While surfing the net looking for attractive images of the saints, flora and fauna to add to my scrapbook of “favorite things,” I came across a very sad, and all too alarming, memorial site. Thus I realize I need to repeat, with even more clarity of explanation, what I have said before. This should help those who are new to my site, or who are actually paying attention and respect to what I am saying for the first time. Also, as I’ve explained before, I will revisit subjects over and over because I realize humans tend to believe crap the first time, and the truth and quality they only believe after repeated explanation and signs.
The memorial site was constructed by parents and a sibling of a young man who had died suddenly of some heart ailment. That they loved him and are grief stricken is obvious. They are a believing Catholic family (which is how I found their site, by searching for images of a certain saint) and they have wonderful trust in God, commending their son to his care. Well, except for one thing. As I read further through the memorial site, I saw that they believe they have “contacted their son” through “psychics.” Sigh.
I am going to explain now step by step why it does absolutely no good to work with “psychics,” particularly those who claim to communicate with the dead. They most assuredly do not communicate with the dead, not at all, not a single time, ever. So I am going to give you the science and the theology of what is really going on so that you can understand with no excuses. You will have greater faith and comfort once you lose the succubus of belief that psychics “communicate” with the dead.
First of all, it is a scientific fact that humans have to varying degrees ESP, which stands for extra-sensory perception. What that means is that people have the ability, to various degrees, to obtain information using “extra” (which means additional or other than) senses (ones that are not the five senses of vision, hearing, touch, etc) by which they have perception. Perception is a tricky concept. Notice it is not called extra-sensory fact finding, ESFF? Nor is it called extra-sensory intelligence gathering, ESIG? It is called perception because it means that one has the impression of gaining insight or experiencing some stimulation, and that may or may not be valid, or it may or may not lead to genuine additional information. For example, when you meet a person for the first time and he is gruff, you may perceive that you have met someone who does not like you. You may be correct, or you may be wrong, and that the gruff exterior masks a very affectionate interior. That is the problem of perception: one receives an impression of information and it may or may not be true.
So I am here to assure you that ESP does exist and there are some people who have only marginal talent in that regard, and some who are formidable in the extent to which they have use of ESP. There are lots of fakers too, who pretend to be psychics but obtain in advance information about you from stalking and spying. They are around in abundance and I can assure you that many “psychics” know your social security number and blood type before you even contact them, and I can assure you that they did not receive that information as “validation” that they are “communicating” with your dead Aunt Nellie. But I will limit myself to discussing those few with truly genuine ESP capability.
What you must realize is that ESP events take place one hundred percent in the material world of matter, energy and time. They do not and never actually access God’s realm (or Satan’s) of life after death. Thus a person who using ESP legitimately believes he or she is communicating with your dead relative is not actually communicating with them or anyone else at all; that person is not in contact with their soul, nor are they granted access to heaven, purgatory or hell. That honest, though misguided, person is in contact with the spiritual and electromagnetic “residue” that remains on earth of your loved one’s life.
While people do not understand the mechanics of ESP, let me describe it to you this way. Thoughts and actions are electromagnetic, and thus there is a continual and to varying degrees cumulative effect of a person’s life left like fingerprints on earth. Thus not only the consequences of deeds live on after the person but an electromagnetic residue. This is not a living or self aware spiritual entity or force, anymore than one’s fingerprints left on a crime scene is “the fingerprint spirit” LOL. So to make it easiest for your self in understanding ESP in this application, think of this fingerprint analogy.
The only difference is that the fingerprint is not necessarily left in one location, but it can be thought of as floating fingerprints. Thus some few genuine talented people can, using their ESP ability, detect one or more ESP “fingerprints” of your dead relative, loved one or friend. Not to be too blunt, but what that means is that the “psychic” can pick up “happy camper” “messages” from your deceased loved one, even though your loved one’s soul in actuality is not in that happy camper place in heaven, if you know what I mean. They are taking your money or at the very least your self respect and telling you that your loved one is in that “better place,” while they actually have no way of knowing that is true. In fact, I have read books by such people and watched them on TV and have known for a fact that certain people they have claimed to have “contact” with and who are “watching over you from heaven” are, actually, doing no such thing and are burning in hellfire.
Here is where the error comes in (again, I am referring only to those few who legitimately have some ESP ability and who are not willfully scamming). In order to have a dialogue with, well, “fingerprints,” they use a mental device which is to “bring the fingerprints ‘to life.’” Think about the leaving of physical fingerprints to better understand this. If you are a child with small hands you leave correspondingly small fingerprints, if you are a woman with long finger nails, your fingerprints may be demarked accordingly, if you have scars or a “working man’s hands,” your fingerprints may be rough and leave those distinctive marks. CSI people can therefore sometimes form a “mental picture” of a suspect just by looking at their fingerprints. Those few who genuinely use some sort of ESP likewise form a “mental picture” that is in actuality quite limited based on their contact with the loved one’s ESP “fingerprint.” They think they are totally accurate because they think their contact is “heaven sent,” but it is not. Thus they do not understand the boundaries and ultimately the total lack of usefulness of their “service.” It would be as if the CSI people issued an all points bulletin with a description of an entire person, down to their red hair and love of animals, based on one fingerprint left behind. It is one thing to have a mental image based on factual work, such as examining a physical fingerprint. It is another thing to think that one knows what that person was really like AND what they are “doing” “after they are dead” based on an ESP fingerprint that was made and left while they were still alive.
Thus the honest psychics (those few) think they are having conversations and communication from the dead, but they are actually having a conversation with the person’s fingerprint, left while that person was alive, and ‘bringing them to life’ in their mind, supplementing the information with their own living ESP abilities. It’s like putting a doll together where the only accurate part is that you have one fingerprint, and you pick the rest of the information about what the doll would look like by just making stuff up in your own head, and using some legitimate ESP based gathering of information yourself… but all of it confined to the residue on earth. None of this information is at all from the soul of the person who is deceased, nor is the information from any part of heaven, purgatory or hell.
I have continually cited the passage in Luke where Jesus Christ most clearly explains that there is absolutely no communication between the dead and the living, in the story of the rich man in hell.
When the Bible and other sources mention “raising people from the dead” or communicating with the dead, they are referring to exactly what I have explained above, except of course the authors at that time did not understand much about the brain, neurology and so forth. So let us spend some time showing that three types of perceived “communication with the dead.”
God will on very rare occasions send prophets back to earth for a brief message. An example of this is when Jesus is Transfigured, and in the presence of Moses and Elias. Matthew 17:3: And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking together with him. Jesus did not “raise Moses and Elias from the dead” nor did some psychic “get in touch with them in heaven.” God sent them to earth for that particular purpose of his, for the Apostles to witness Jesus Transfigured in their presence. So the first example of communicating with the dead is extremely rare and totally initiated by God, since God sends an image of the dead to earth for a given purpose. Another example of this is when Jesus dies on the cross, as his spirit leaves this opens the door and many of the dead are briefly seen to walk the earth again.
Matthew 27:51-54
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they came into the holy city and appeared to many. Now when the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, they were very much afraid, and they said, “Truly he was the Son of God.”
Thus on rare occasions and entirely at God’s will and behest the dead who are at rest in heaven will appear in some form when God requires a message or a sign to be given. These are not events that are “summoned” or initiated by human beings.
The second example of “raising from the dead” or communicating with the dead is when a genuine prophet of God restores to life a person who has recently died. The most well known examples are of Jesus raising Lazarus and others from the dead, not in communicating with them as they remain dead, but to give life back to them.
Mark 5:38-42
And they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue and he saw a tumult, people weeping and wailing greatly. And going in he said to them, “Why do you make this din, and weep? The girl is asleep, not dead.” And they laughed him to scorn. But he, putting them all out, took the father and mother of the girl and those who were with him, and entered in where the girl was lying. And taking the girl by the hand, he said to her, “Talitah cumi,” which is interpreted, “Girl, I say to thee, arise.” And the girl rose up immediately and began to walk; she was twelve years old. And they were utterly amazed.
The Jews were very aware that on extremely rare occasions God will give a prophet the power to raise from the dead and one of the great miracles of Eliseus is recalled:
4 Kings 4:32-37
Eliseus therefore went into the house, and behold the child lay dead on his bed. And going in he shut the door upon him, and upon the child, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up, and lay upon the child; and he put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands; and he bowed himself upon him, and the child’s flesh grew warm. Then he returned and walked in the house, once to and fro; and he went up, and lay upon him, and the child gaped seven times, and opened his eyes. And he called Giezi, and said to him: Call this Sunamitess. And she being called, went in to him, and he said: take up they son. She came and fell at his feet, and worshipped upon the ground, and took up her son, and went out.
Thus all who witnessed the great miracles of Jesus, especially when he raised some from the dead, instantly knew that this was an extraordinarily rare grace that can only come from God himself. This is why the Bible will refer to the ability to “raise from the dead,” but by no means is there the suggestion that humans can do this, for only God can do it and wills it only on the rarest of occasions through the hands of his prophets.
The third example is that which I have already explained in the bulk of this posting, which is the perception that one is in communication with the dead. This is why the Bible is very blunt about such acts which, if they are not of the rare examples given above, considered a work of sorcery. Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Yes, the Bible states that there is the death penalty for sorcery. Here is why.
As I have cited above, genuine contact with the dead is rare and only initiated by God. In other words, God alone allows a genuine and rare contact with the dead and he sent that ability at the time it occurs to the prophets of old. In other words, it’s not like people walked around with the “talent,” “gift” or “ability” to raise or communicate with the dead. God sends the power, ability and grace to do it at the time of the God willed action by a prophet. Moderns have fallen into the trap, which is why the Law as given by God is so harsh about sorcerers, of believing that communicating with the dead is a legitimate “gift” or “talent,” that can be invoked at will by a human being at his or her behest. That is absolutely and simply not true. Even Jesus did not walk around in a continual “on” state of being able to communicate with the dead and raise people from the dead and restore them to life. Each time that Jesus performed a miracle he was given that ability on the spot from God. We know this because we can read in the Gospel Jesus explain to the disciples that for certain miracles he makes certain preparations of prayer and fasting.
Likewise after Jesus died, resurrected and ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit descended and gave certain Apostles the ability to perform certain miracles at certain times. It’s not like Peter, for example, was “always” in possession of the “gift” that he has now “developed.” Lord, no. Again, the Bible is clear throughout the centuries that only certain prophets are given on certain occasions the ability to cross the boundary between life and death, and that God and only God is the one who is actually bringing forth that miracle.
So, sorcerers and fortune tellers and others of their ilk have all made the same mistake, which is to believe that it is a “talent” or a “gift” to do certain extrasensory things, one that they possess and can invoke. In actuality what sorcerers do, or perceive that they are doing, is to, as I explained above, use certain earth bound extrasensory perceptions to perform acts that they think span the gap between the living and the dead, but they do not. As I’ve said, many are greedy and power hungry charlatans, while a few are genuinely talented in ESP based activities, and just misunderstand their own abilities, both where it comes from (not God) and what are its limitations (they are projecting their own inner information onto very small remnants of a person’s lingering or active mental and spiritual fingerprints). This is why the Law is so harsh and required the death penalty, since sorcerers promote their ability as a God given gift, which is blasphemous and in error. As I pointed out, even Jesus Christ himself did not walk around “promoting” his “ongoing” “gift” to raise the dead, for example, since that simply would not have been true. Jesus Christ is careful to point out that each and every miracle is at the behest of God and is a singular granting of that gift by God through Jesus, neither a sorcerous “talent” nor an ongoing “divine gift.”
Thus modern psychics, those few who are genuine, imply and often believe that they are in possession of an ongoing “gift” that is divinely approved, and it most assuredly is not. What they have is the same as if they had really good eyesight, or perfect pitch, or really keen hearing. Suppose that a person was born with the extremely subtle ability to smell odors like a bloodhound, or to hear outside of the human range, like all dogs do? Is that channeling a “gift from God” of “direction from heaven?” Um, no; it would be an example of someone through their earth bound genes having particularly keen sensory ability. People with ESP have no reason to thank God for it any more than someone with great vision thanks God for their super eyesight every day. ESP is a biological and electromagnetic capability; it is not miraculous, it is not “spiritual” in the sense of holy, justified or approved, and it does not span the real world of the living and the soul based world of the dead. It is like having really great hearing, really great eyesight, or a really great nose.
In general I dislike all psychics for that reason, since they have an uneducated and invalid vanity regarding the loftiness of their “gift.” The more that they parrot about God the less humility they are actually showing, since they are still linking their ESP ability to divine matters, and that simply is not true. What would be appropriate prayer? Again, think of the CSI example, of the fingerprint specialist, or of the person born with some incredible and bizarre ability to use his or her sense of smell like a bloodhound. They should pray that they are as responsible in the use of their talent and capability as they can be, just as all normal people should pray to God that he guide all that they do in life and that they only perform his will and do only honest good, not self serving “good.” However, it would be a vanity for a CSI fingerprint expert, for example, to think that his talent is miraculous, and that his dead uncle Freddy is “guiding” him from “up above.”
Likewise a man who was born with a bloodhound’s nose might pray for guidance about using his talent (and standing the stench of much of what he would smell, LOL) but it would be lunacy and error to think that he’s “channeling” some saint who had a big nose. Really, I’m almost embarrassed on behalf of modern humans when I type this. As usual I marvel that I have to keep explaining this over and over again. But as Jesus explained, Abraham told the dead man in hell that the people had Moses and didn’t listen to him, so why would his living brothers believe even his testimony of the reality of hell? It seems that every generation is worse and worse at ignoring the centuries of wisdom and truth in the Torah, the Bible and the Koran, and making stuff up to self aggrandize and fool the public as they go.
So when those few genuine psychics do an extraordinary thing, such as have an imaginary “conversation” with the residue of your dead loved one, or manipulate cards in a casino (LOL), or use psycho kinesis to make the other team drop the football, or accurately predict your next pregnancy, they are not using a “divine” “gift.” It is not God approved or God provided, any more than someone with particularly good eyesight or perfect pitch. It is simply an extreme capability of an earthly phenomenon and thus like everything else it is up to the person to either understand and use with morality, or misunderstand and abuse, and thus will answer for when the time comes. In animals we marvel and call it “instinct,” and study the biology of things like how a homing pigeon navigates, or a butterfly migrates thousands of miles. But we do not say, “Wow, God made that homing pigeon psychic” or “that butterfly must be channeling the spirit of the saint who was the best map reader.” I mean, use your common sense people.
I hope and pray that you have found this helpful.
Exodus 25:21-22
And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
Showing posts with label Eliseus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eliseus. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
God, Christmas, awe of God, and the ordinary
One of the greatest stumbling blocks to both belief in God and in acceptance of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Savior is the inability to reconcile awe of God with God’s attention to ordinariness. The faithful and agnostic secular skeptics need to understand the awe and the ordinariness in order to discern an accurate image of God. This is an especially fruitful consideration during both Christmastime and Hanukkah. Equally, Muslims who have recently conducted the Hajj can also perceive this challenge between the awe of God and God’s attention to ordinariness.
This fundamental contrast, which is a challenge to many, is only revealed in the first place if the believer (and the inquiring skeptic) reads and contemplates the sacred literature in its entirety, and then sits back and lets it somewhat holistically “soak in.” The Jews have the greatest history of understanding that God is awesome and awe inspiring beyond comprehension, yet has a proven history of interacting with his Chosen People in minute detail where necessary. By this I do not mean God as “micromanager” through the Law but, rather, I mean the Biblical stories that demonstrate his intervention and mercy in even small matters of an ordinary person. The same God of all of creation, who appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the great Theophany sent his prophet Eliseus among not just the kings of Israel, but among the ordinary people who suffered, performing great miracles on their behalf. In 4 Kings 4:1-7 one reads how a woman who was a poor widow was about to lose her two sons because the creditors would take them from her in cost of unpaid debts. Eliseus gave her a miracle of an oil jar that was continually filled (this is cooking oil, not oil as we mean nowadays as in petroleum) so that she could sell from this continually filled jar, pay off the debts, and then she and her sons could live off of the income of the this continually filled oil jar without worry. In this one example one comprehends the awe of God, where his prophet can deliver such a miracle in God’s name, and also the ordinariness, for this woman’s name is not even mentioned, we only know that she was the poor widow of a man who “was one that feared God.”
Jesus later explains this aspect of God, his awe inspiring glory and yet his concern for even the smallest and the most ordinary among the world. When telling the Apostles not to be afraid, Jesus said the following:
Matthew 10:29-30
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave. But as for you, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Let me first translate the analogy that Jesus is saying before providing you with commentary. People ate sparrows for food, and two sparrows for a farthing are a low price. Jesus is saying that not even the most humble and low priced animals sold for the most humble and lowly meal is beneath not only the notice of God, but also God’s permission, for God is the one who has provided the food of creation, and is aware of every animal life, and every human meal, no matter how small and humble. It’s like Jesus would remind someone today in modern times that whenever they eat even the dollar menu chicken strips that God not only knows of the meal, the chickens that provided it, and the low price, but is also the ultimate provider of food and humanity’s ability to survive and thrive in the first place. Then, Jesus tells the Apostles to think about it: if God knows the disposition of even the smallest animal in the lowliest meal for a human, likewise, God knows every detail of every person, down to knowing the number of individual hairs on one’s head. Jesus then assures them that since God attends to even the most humble animal in the most humble meal, and has equally detailed constant awareness of each human, how much more value is each and every person to God: “You are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus thus in the course of a longer lesson and discourse to the Apostles, at one point in comforting them, offers this contrast that I am commenting on now: God’s all knowing and mercy are awesome beyond human imagining, yet God is also concerned about every animal, every meal, and every human to their most ordinary existence and well being.
Jesus performed so many miracles of curing ordinary people that they are not even enumerated in the Gospels. Jesus clearly went above and beyond performing “just enough” miracles to “authenticate” who he was, and how he performed miracles on the behest and mercy of God.
Matthew 15:29-31
And when Jesus had departed from there, he went along the Sea of Galilee; and he went up the mountain and sat there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others; and they set them down at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowds marveled to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus cured as many who were brought to them, so many that the Gospel authors just describe these scenes in general terms, because it was God’s will that Jesus put a face on God’s mercy and concern for the ordinary person, who suffered ordinary woes in life, such as disabilities. One miraculous cure per location would have been more than sufficient to establish the God given authority of Jesus, yet Jesus went ahead and cured each and every of the suffering who were brought to him. And the people, then, just as Jesus wanted, glorified not him but God for his mercy.
One miracle that Jesus performed brings to mind the miracle of Eliseus as described above. When you read the miracle known as “The Widow’s Son,” (which I’ve discussed in previous posts), remember that the loss of a widow’s son was virtually a death penalty for her too, as she no longer had any means of support or even a provider of food.
Luke 7:11-17
And it came to pass soon afterwards, that he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. And as he drew near the gate of the town, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was with her. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he went up and touched the stretcher; and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to thee, arise.” And he who was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
But fear seized upon all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” And this report concerning him went forth throughout the whole of Judea, and all the country roundabout.
Eliseus (also spelled Elisha or Elijah) performed his miracle of the oil to save the sons of the widow some eight hundred years or so before Jesus raised from the dead the son of this widow. This is an example of what I describe as the necessity of reading the entire Bible in order to have a holistic or overall view of God; not just focus on citations or “episodes.” Only when one reads the entire Bible can one notice the constancy of God; God is constant and consistent through all eternity and is demonstrated in his interaction with generation after generation of humans. Thus one can see Eliseus have concern for an unnamed impoverished widow who is about to lose her sons and livelihood to seizure by creditors and then hundreds of years later, Jesus in the name of God raise from the dead the only son, and thus love and livelihood, of the unnamed ordinary widow woman of Naim. People who say that God is “arbitrary” are as dumb as a sack of rocks and clearly have never read the entire Bible with any degree of attention or mindfulness to the supernatural constancy of God: a constancy that is rarely recognized or thanked. This is why when I relate the above examples of Jesus’ miracles, I include the passages that relate how perfectly the crowds understood what was happening, that Jesus was not there to glorify himself, but do demonstrate the constancy of God’s complete awareness and love for the ordinary, for those who suffer and endure losses.
I’m writing this on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas, and that timing is exactly why I am writing on this particular topic. Christmas-celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ-should be recognition of the constancy of God that seems contradictory only when modern humans are narrow minded. The ancient Israelites and those in the time of Jesus did not have the stumbling block of thinking that if God is so awesome on one hand, why does God seem to do “ordinary” things on the other hand. Life is one hundred percent ordinary; it is only humans who glamorize certain classes of people and certain elite events. There is no contradiction at all between being constantly struck by the awesome power and might of God, and his unfathomable mystery, and yet understanding that he knows and cares about “every hair on every head.” It is only modern people who do not comprehend that, who then as a result have doubt and even sacrilegious thoughts about the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The mourners at Naim had absolutely no need for explanation or “proof” by this unnamed stranger, who walked up to them, had compassion for a widow, and raised her son from the dead for her. Notice they never even asked his name or his “credentials;” they did not need to, for they saw and believed, and they felt immediately the fear of God (awe) in the miracle wrought by Jesus. Moderns refuse to believe, or they discount God’s awesomeness, thinking he must not be so awesome if he sent Jesus, his Son, to be poor, in a manger, to live anonymously most of his life before two or so years of public ministry and a cruel death, before resurrection. To find the humility of Jesus and his birth among the ordinary people a sign of God being any less all powerful and awesome is a modern affectation and affliction that is truly contrarian and baffling.
This is another reason one must read and with a wholeness of attentiveness have a holistic appreciation of the Bible: one must look not only to the prophets and saints as role models, but to the ordinary people. What did the people of Naim “think” when the unnamed stranger of Jesus Christ walked into their funeral procession, dried the tears of the mother widow, and raised her son from the dead? Did they say, “Well, God must not be so awesome if he sent some ordinary human to do his deeds?” Of course not; people used to understand that it is a sign of God’s awesomeness, power and mercy that he raised up his prophets of the people and among the people, not as some unfathomable creature that is outside of human experience. What the people of Naim instantly said was ““A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” The two reactions most clearly acknowledged the awesome might and mercy of God, and the fact that God was working among the people. Jews had thousands of years of experience, well known in Torah study that God raises his prophets from among the people, not as an “outside force,” and also that God “visits” his people. The people of Naim instantly recognized such a gift of God, a concern and love for the ordinary people, in Jesus, before even knowing his name.
Notice something else, in the first line of that passage: “he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.” This is mentioned often in the Gospel that the disciples walked with Jesus from region to region in his ministry, but that also large crowds of ordinary people also traveled with him. Again, one learns to emulate the behavior of ordinary people who lived in the extraordinary Biblical times. They fully retain their awe of God and their glorification of God alone, but they accept the gift of ordinary human to human interaction with what they recognized was this mighty prophet of God, Jesus. This is how moderns must also be and to do so they need to realign their attitudes out of the mushy, meaningless and erroneous “middle.” Humans need to stop being lukewarm about God himself, and have a complete return to being totally blown away by God’s all powerfulness, his mercy and his awesomeness. Likewise they need to stop making every interaction with the divine be only “meaningful” and “impressive” if it is tinged with the occult, the supernatural or the strange. It’s like moderns have so thoroughly forgotten what ordinary life is really like (a curse of narcissism, prosperity and cynicism) that since they no longer know what their own ordinary reality is like, they can’t recognize when God is “into the details” of the ordinary and “visits his people.” Instead of having some “go ahead, impress me” attitude toward God that is rooted in the mushy meaningless middle, people need to remember and regain with a jolt fear of the Lord, of the awesomeness of God at one “extreme,” and at the same time, recognize God’s deep concern for every ordinary person throughout their ordinary life at the “other extreme.” When one sticks to the blah middle one totally misses understanding God at all.
This is how I hope that those of you who read my commentary think of the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the upcoming days, and then going forward in your faith and life journey. You cannot understand this holiday, understand God, or even understand one’s own life and human condition if you do not understand the constancy of the “two extremes,” which is total awe for God and his mystery and power, and acceptance of God, and his offer of company, love and concern for you, most especially through Jesus Christ, into your ordinary life. When one wonders, “Well, why would God have a ‘son’ born of a virgin in a manger in poverty ‘only’ to be ‘killed,’” one need only to recall one of the many events that defy that reductionist mentality, which is to think of the virgin’s son walk to Naim and raise the unnamed son in compassion to give him back to his ordinary mother, and hear how the crowds saw and believed. A depressive reductionist mentality about the mutual divine blessedness and humanity of Jesus Christ is totally uncalled for and quite erroneous and in violation of the very clear facts.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
This fundamental contrast, which is a challenge to many, is only revealed in the first place if the believer (and the inquiring skeptic) reads and contemplates the sacred literature in its entirety, and then sits back and lets it somewhat holistically “soak in.” The Jews have the greatest history of understanding that God is awesome and awe inspiring beyond comprehension, yet has a proven history of interacting with his Chosen People in minute detail where necessary. By this I do not mean God as “micromanager” through the Law but, rather, I mean the Biblical stories that demonstrate his intervention and mercy in even small matters of an ordinary person. The same God of all of creation, who appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the great Theophany sent his prophet Eliseus among not just the kings of Israel, but among the ordinary people who suffered, performing great miracles on their behalf. In 4 Kings 4:1-7 one reads how a woman who was a poor widow was about to lose her two sons because the creditors would take them from her in cost of unpaid debts. Eliseus gave her a miracle of an oil jar that was continually filled (this is cooking oil, not oil as we mean nowadays as in petroleum) so that she could sell from this continually filled jar, pay off the debts, and then she and her sons could live off of the income of the this continually filled oil jar without worry. In this one example one comprehends the awe of God, where his prophet can deliver such a miracle in God’s name, and also the ordinariness, for this woman’s name is not even mentioned, we only know that she was the poor widow of a man who “was one that feared God.”
Jesus later explains this aspect of God, his awe inspiring glory and yet his concern for even the smallest and the most ordinary among the world. When telling the Apostles not to be afraid, Jesus said the following:
Matthew 10:29-30
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave. But as for you, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Let me first translate the analogy that Jesus is saying before providing you with commentary. People ate sparrows for food, and two sparrows for a farthing are a low price. Jesus is saying that not even the most humble and low priced animals sold for the most humble and lowly meal is beneath not only the notice of God, but also God’s permission, for God is the one who has provided the food of creation, and is aware of every animal life, and every human meal, no matter how small and humble. It’s like Jesus would remind someone today in modern times that whenever they eat even the dollar menu chicken strips that God not only knows of the meal, the chickens that provided it, and the low price, but is also the ultimate provider of food and humanity’s ability to survive and thrive in the first place. Then, Jesus tells the Apostles to think about it: if God knows the disposition of even the smallest animal in the lowliest meal for a human, likewise, God knows every detail of every person, down to knowing the number of individual hairs on one’s head. Jesus then assures them that since God attends to even the most humble animal in the most humble meal, and has equally detailed constant awareness of each human, how much more value is each and every person to God: “You are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus thus in the course of a longer lesson and discourse to the Apostles, at one point in comforting them, offers this contrast that I am commenting on now: God’s all knowing and mercy are awesome beyond human imagining, yet God is also concerned about every animal, every meal, and every human to their most ordinary existence and well being.
Jesus performed so many miracles of curing ordinary people that they are not even enumerated in the Gospels. Jesus clearly went above and beyond performing “just enough” miracles to “authenticate” who he was, and how he performed miracles on the behest and mercy of God.
Matthew 15:29-31
And when Jesus had departed from there, he went along the Sea of Galilee; and he went up the mountain and sat there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others; and they set them down at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowds marveled to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus cured as many who were brought to them, so many that the Gospel authors just describe these scenes in general terms, because it was God’s will that Jesus put a face on God’s mercy and concern for the ordinary person, who suffered ordinary woes in life, such as disabilities. One miraculous cure per location would have been more than sufficient to establish the God given authority of Jesus, yet Jesus went ahead and cured each and every of the suffering who were brought to him. And the people, then, just as Jesus wanted, glorified not him but God for his mercy.
One miracle that Jesus performed brings to mind the miracle of Eliseus as described above. When you read the miracle known as “The Widow’s Son,” (which I’ve discussed in previous posts), remember that the loss of a widow’s son was virtually a death penalty for her too, as she no longer had any means of support or even a provider of food.
Luke 7:11-17
And it came to pass soon afterwards, that he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. And as he drew near the gate of the town, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was with her. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he went up and touched the stretcher; and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to thee, arise.” And he who was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
But fear seized upon all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” And this report concerning him went forth throughout the whole of Judea, and all the country roundabout.
Eliseus (also spelled Elisha or Elijah) performed his miracle of the oil to save the sons of the widow some eight hundred years or so before Jesus raised from the dead the son of this widow. This is an example of what I describe as the necessity of reading the entire Bible in order to have a holistic or overall view of God; not just focus on citations or “episodes.” Only when one reads the entire Bible can one notice the constancy of God; God is constant and consistent through all eternity and is demonstrated in his interaction with generation after generation of humans. Thus one can see Eliseus have concern for an unnamed impoverished widow who is about to lose her sons and livelihood to seizure by creditors and then hundreds of years later, Jesus in the name of God raise from the dead the only son, and thus love and livelihood, of the unnamed ordinary widow woman of Naim. People who say that God is “arbitrary” are as dumb as a sack of rocks and clearly have never read the entire Bible with any degree of attention or mindfulness to the supernatural constancy of God: a constancy that is rarely recognized or thanked. This is why when I relate the above examples of Jesus’ miracles, I include the passages that relate how perfectly the crowds understood what was happening, that Jesus was not there to glorify himself, but do demonstrate the constancy of God’s complete awareness and love for the ordinary, for those who suffer and endure losses.
I’m writing this on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas, and that timing is exactly why I am writing on this particular topic. Christmas-celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ-should be recognition of the constancy of God that seems contradictory only when modern humans are narrow minded. The ancient Israelites and those in the time of Jesus did not have the stumbling block of thinking that if God is so awesome on one hand, why does God seem to do “ordinary” things on the other hand. Life is one hundred percent ordinary; it is only humans who glamorize certain classes of people and certain elite events. There is no contradiction at all between being constantly struck by the awesome power and might of God, and his unfathomable mystery, and yet understanding that he knows and cares about “every hair on every head.” It is only modern people who do not comprehend that, who then as a result have doubt and even sacrilegious thoughts about the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The mourners at Naim had absolutely no need for explanation or “proof” by this unnamed stranger, who walked up to them, had compassion for a widow, and raised her son from the dead for her. Notice they never even asked his name or his “credentials;” they did not need to, for they saw and believed, and they felt immediately the fear of God (awe) in the miracle wrought by Jesus. Moderns refuse to believe, or they discount God’s awesomeness, thinking he must not be so awesome if he sent Jesus, his Son, to be poor, in a manger, to live anonymously most of his life before two or so years of public ministry and a cruel death, before resurrection. To find the humility of Jesus and his birth among the ordinary people a sign of God being any less all powerful and awesome is a modern affectation and affliction that is truly contrarian and baffling.
This is another reason one must read and with a wholeness of attentiveness have a holistic appreciation of the Bible: one must look not only to the prophets and saints as role models, but to the ordinary people. What did the people of Naim “think” when the unnamed stranger of Jesus Christ walked into their funeral procession, dried the tears of the mother widow, and raised her son from the dead? Did they say, “Well, God must not be so awesome if he sent some ordinary human to do his deeds?” Of course not; people used to understand that it is a sign of God’s awesomeness, power and mercy that he raised up his prophets of the people and among the people, not as some unfathomable creature that is outside of human experience. What the people of Naim instantly said was ““A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” The two reactions most clearly acknowledged the awesome might and mercy of God, and the fact that God was working among the people. Jews had thousands of years of experience, well known in Torah study that God raises his prophets from among the people, not as an “outside force,” and also that God “visits” his people. The people of Naim instantly recognized such a gift of God, a concern and love for the ordinary people, in Jesus, before even knowing his name.
Notice something else, in the first line of that passage: “he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.” This is mentioned often in the Gospel that the disciples walked with Jesus from region to region in his ministry, but that also large crowds of ordinary people also traveled with him. Again, one learns to emulate the behavior of ordinary people who lived in the extraordinary Biblical times. They fully retain their awe of God and their glorification of God alone, but they accept the gift of ordinary human to human interaction with what they recognized was this mighty prophet of God, Jesus. This is how moderns must also be and to do so they need to realign their attitudes out of the mushy, meaningless and erroneous “middle.” Humans need to stop being lukewarm about God himself, and have a complete return to being totally blown away by God’s all powerfulness, his mercy and his awesomeness. Likewise they need to stop making every interaction with the divine be only “meaningful” and “impressive” if it is tinged with the occult, the supernatural or the strange. It’s like moderns have so thoroughly forgotten what ordinary life is really like (a curse of narcissism, prosperity and cynicism) that since they no longer know what their own ordinary reality is like, they can’t recognize when God is “into the details” of the ordinary and “visits his people.” Instead of having some “go ahead, impress me” attitude toward God that is rooted in the mushy meaningless middle, people need to remember and regain with a jolt fear of the Lord, of the awesomeness of God at one “extreme,” and at the same time, recognize God’s deep concern for every ordinary person throughout their ordinary life at the “other extreme.” When one sticks to the blah middle one totally misses understanding God at all.
This is how I hope that those of you who read my commentary think of the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the upcoming days, and then going forward in your faith and life journey. You cannot understand this holiday, understand God, or even understand one’s own life and human condition if you do not understand the constancy of the “two extremes,” which is total awe for God and his mystery and power, and acceptance of God, and his offer of company, love and concern for you, most especially through Jesus Christ, into your ordinary life. When one wonders, “Well, why would God have a ‘son’ born of a virgin in a manger in poverty ‘only’ to be ‘killed,’” one need only to recall one of the many events that defy that reductionist mentality, which is to think of the virgin’s son walk to Naim and raise the unnamed son in compassion to give him back to his ordinary mother, and hear how the crowds saw and believed. A depressive reductionist mentality about the mutual divine blessedness and humanity of Jesus Christ is totally uncalled for and quite erroneous and in violation of the very clear facts.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Bible Reading 4 Kings 2:6-11 and commentary
Many in the faith have a vague recollection of the "Bible story" of the Prophet Elias, remembering him because he is the one who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. But there are some details to this miraculous historical event that also help in strengthening faith and understanding. Here they are.
And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together, and fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance; but they two stood by the Jordan.
Elias (Elijah), one of the greatest of prophets, knew that it was his time to be called to God. This was not an illness or old age, but Elijah knew that God was going to summon him directly to heaven. And so he is walking in that expectation with his companion Eliseus, whom he had consecrated as a priest and prophet (3 Kings 19). So Elijah is telling Eliseus that it is time for Elijah to depart, telling him that he they should split at the Jordan while Elijah continues on, but Eliseus refuses to leave him. And by the way, there fifty "sons of the prophets" (also holy men) following. Everyone knew something important was going to happen, and no one wanted to leave, and they certainly did not want Elijah to depart.
In addition to understanding the mighty devotion among all the prophets who serve God, there is another insight that can be gleaned. Once again, you see evidence that the Bible is very literal in its events. There are fifty witnesses to Elijah trying to leave them, having been summoned by God. People who just write mythologies and stories don't add details of fifty witness and THEN have the witnesses not see the actual departure! So a large group followed and stayed in visual sight of the two prophets as they talked and to the Jordan walked.
And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground.
Elijah therefore performs a miracle to get the two men away from the following crowd. He takes his mantle (a cloth worn as a cape) and "folded it together," meaning he took the cloth, folded it repeatedly until it was narrow and long like a staff. He uses the staff to strike the waters and the waters pulled back to allow a clear and dry path for the two men to cross the river. Thus the group of fifty men could not follow, and add their voices of concern to get Elijah to stay with them.
And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken from thee.
Elijah is now making it clear that he will be taken from Eliseus at that spot. So Elijah asks what he can do for Eliseus, who is to be his successor as prophet.
And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit.
Bible commentary usually interpret this to mean that Eliseus was asking for "double the power" that Elijah himself had. But this is not exactly accurate. Eliseus is not looking to be "better" or "more" than Elijah. He was asking that Elijah's abilities be added to his own God given abilities, and so that "in me" may be thy "double spirit," thus Elijah's prophetic ability added to Eliseus's forthcoming own prophetic ability. It's not a power thing, but rather, each prophet has a unique calling and gift/relationship with God. Eliseus in his caution wanted to ensure that he retained within him all the prophetic gifts of Elijah, lest his own gifts to be not cover all the eventualities that Elijah's would have. See, this is an important insight about how prophets are different. They are not looking for "double power." They fear not being able to do something that the Lord someday might require of them. To put it in Christian terms, Eliseus wanted to make sure he could perform all of Elijah's charisms if need be, in addition to the charisms he would be granted.
And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked; but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.
Ah ha! Elijah immediately kicked that request "upstairs to God," since only God can grant the ability and the extent (the charisms) of prophecy. This should never be misread as a discussion of "magic." It is absolutely not. Elijah immediately understood the caution behind Eliseus' request, but nothing like that had ever been done before in the relationship of prophets to God. They certainly cannot "pass their power from one to the other," to use a "magic" concept. Basically Eliseus was asking Elijah to ask God to give him Elijah's span and capability of prophecy. And so Elijah immediately knew that Eliseus had asked for a "hard" (as in monumental responsibility, not as in difficulty for God to grant), thing, since Elijah had no way of knowing if this is what God would want, and only God could do this. So in the way of a prophet's unspoken communion with God, Elijah knew that if God granted this request, he would allow Eliseus to see the departure of Elijah as a sign that his wish for Elijah's span of prophetic capability was granted.
And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And so Elijah is taken up to heaven and because Eliseus sees it, he knows that God has acknowledged his request and given him the span of prophetic ability of Elijah's.
Now here is the most important lesson, besides the lesson that the prophets all carried a burden of caring for each other, but more importantly that they have all that they need in order to serve God (and thus Eliseus asked for selfless reasons for the double prophet spirit with Elijah's share). Many people read the Bible and just assume that God was going to send the horses and chariot all along. In other words, people ascribe significance to God sending a horses and a chariot for Elijah. But suppose that Eliseus had not been there, or had not made the request? God very well might have simply levitated Elijah to heaven. In other words, there is NO significance to the chariot and horses other than the fact they are visible, and they convey great status and respect for the occupant to the viewer. The chariot and horses were not so much for Elijah, who would have been in bliss with a simple levitation, or his body becoming instantly glorified so it can reside in heaven. The chariot and horses were for Eliseus, the successor to Elijah, to see as his sign that his request is answered.
See, a lot of humans apply kind of symbolism and pagan assumptions when they read scripture, and then jump to conclusions and miss really reading every word of what happens in sequence. And so modern people tend to apply symbolism to the chariot and horses, missing the whole point that there is symbolism alright: but it is the symbolism that God let Elijah know that if his leaving was "visible" that Eliseus' request was granted. So God sent a chariot and horses in the whirlwind to be the visible sign for Eliseus' answer from God. Since God was making a visible unmistakable reply to Eliseus, he sent a image (chariot and horses) that unmistakably represented honor and power, in this case, prophetic power.
I hope this helps in your seeing another example of how to not miss or misunderstand any of the subtle and important goodness and sweetness that is in the scriptures.
And Elias said to him: Stay here, because the Lord hath sent me as far as the Jordan. And he said: As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they two went on together, and fifty men of the sons of the prophets followed them, and stood in sight at a distance; but they two stood by the Jordan.
Elias (Elijah), one of the greatest of prophets, knew that it was his time to be called to God. This was not an illness or old age, but Elijah knew that God was going to summon him directly to heaven. And so he is walking in that expectation with his companion Eliseus, whom he had consecrated as a priest and prophet (3 Kings 19). So Elijah is telling Eliseus that it is time for Elijah to depart, telling him that he they should split at the Jordan while Elijah continues on, but Eliseus refuses to leave him. And by the way, there fifty "sons of the prophets" (also holy men) following. Everyone knew something important was going to happen, and no one wanted to leave, and they certainly did not want Elijah to depart.
In addition to understanding the mighty devotion among all the prophets who serve God, there is another insight that can be gleaned. Once again, you see evidence that the Bible is very literal in its events. There are fifty witnesses to Elijah trying to leave them, having been summoned by God. People who just write mythologies and stories don't add details of fifty witness and THEN have the witnesses not see the actual departure! So a large group followed and stayed in visual sight of the two prophets as they talked and to the Jordan walked.
And Elias took his mantle and folded it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, and they both passed over on dry ground.
Elijah therefore performs a miracle to get the two men away from the following crowd. He takes his mantle (a cloth worn as a cape) and "folded it together," meaning he took the cloth, folded it repeatedly until it was narrow and long like a staff. He uses the staff to strike the waters and the waters pulled back to allow a clear and dry path for the two men to cross the river. Thus the group of fifty men could not follow, and add their voices of concern to get Elijah to stay with them.
And when they were gone over, Elias said to Eliseus: Ask what thou wilt have me to do for thee, before I be taken from thee.
Elijah is now making it clear that he will be taken from Eliseus at that spot. So Elijah asks what he can do for Eliseus, who is to be his successor as prophet.
And Eliseus said: I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit.
Bible commentary usually interpret this to mean that Eliseus was asking for "double the power" that Elijah himself had. But this is not exactly accurate. Eliseus is not looking to be "better" or "more" than Elijah. He was asking that Elijah's abilities be added to his own God given abilities, and so that "in me" may be thy "double spirit," thus Elijah's prophetic ability added to Eliseus's forthcoming own prophetic ability. It's not a power thing, but rather, each prophet has a unique calling and gift/relationship with God. Eliseus in his caution wanted to ensure that he retained within him all the prophetic gifts of Elijah, lest his own gifts to be not cover all the eventualities that Elijah's would have. See, this is an important insight about how prophets are different. They are not looking for "double power." They fear not being able to do something that the Lord someday might require of them. To put it in Christian terms, Eliseus wanted to make sure he could perform all of Elijah's charisms if need be, in addition to the charisms he would be granted.
And he answered: Thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee, thou shalt have what thou hast asked; but if thou see me not, thou shalt not have it.
Ah ha! Elijah immediately kicked that request "upstairs to God," since only God can grant the ability and the extent (the charisms) of prophecy. This should never be misread as a discussion of "magic." It is absolutely not. Elijah immediately understood the caution behind Eliseus' request, but nothing like that had ever been done before in the relationship of prophets to God. They certainly cannot "pass their power from one to the other," to use a "magic" concept. Basically Eliseus was asking Elijah to ask God to give him Elijah's span and capability of prophecy. And so Elijah immediately knew that Eliseus had asked for a "hard" (as in monumental responsibility, not as in difficulty for God to grant), thing, since Elijah had no way of knowing if this is what God would want, and only God could do this. So in the way of a prophet's unspoken communion with God, Elijah knew that if God granted this request, he would allow Eliseus to see the departure of Elijah as a sign that his wish for Elijah's span of prophetic capability was granted.
And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And so Elijah is taken up to heaven and because Eliseus sees it, he knows that God has acknowledged his request and given him the span of prophetic ability of Elijah's.
Now here is the most important lesson, besides the lesson that the prophets all carried a burden of caring for each other, but more importantly that they have all that they need in order to serve God (and thus Eliseus asked for selfless reasons for the double prophet spirit with Elijah's share). Many people read the Bible and just assume that God was going to send the horses and chariot all along. In other words, people ascribe significance to God sending a horses and a chariot for Elijah. But suppose that Eliseus had not been there, or had not made the request? God very well might have simply levitated Elijah to heaven. In other words, there is NO significance to the chariot and horses other than the fact they are visible, and they convey great status and respect for the occupant to the viewer. The chariot and horses were not so much for Elijah, who would have been in bliss with a simple levitation, or his body becoming instantly glorified so it can reside in heaven. The chariot and horses were for Eliseus, the successor to Elijah, to see as his sign that his request is answered.
See, a lot of humans apply kind of symbolism and pagan assumptions when they read scripture, and then jump to conclusions and miss really reading every word of what happens in sequence. And so modern people tend to apply symbolism to the chariot and horses, missing the whole point that there is symbolism alright: but it is the symbolism that God let Elijah know that if his leaving was "visible" that Eliseus' request was granted. So God sent a chariot and horses in the whirlwind to be the visible sign for Eliseus' answer from God. Since God was making a visible unmistakable reply to Eliseus, he sent a image (chariot and horses) that unmistakably represented honor and power, in this case, prophetic power.
I hope this helps in your seeing another example of how to not miss or misunderstand any of the subtle and important goodness and sweetness that is in the scriptures.
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