Update 9/19/19 a palindrome date
I want to apologize for my lack of keeping up. It seems that I have great intentions but even in retirement I am easily sidetracked. I was doing a study in Genesis and had reached the point of the reasons for the flood. God was so discouraged by the violence of humans that God wanted to start over, a mulligan of creation. As I was ready to write about that, El Paso and Dayton happened. I was shocked. I waited in vain for our Nebraska representatives to do more than just talk. I should have known that they would not say or do anything except to blame the shooters who possessed automatic weapons claiming mental illness. I wondered if the shooters had not been anglo would that have made a difference. These acts were domestic terrorism and to discount that will continue to give credence to others who indeed are mentally ill but also influenced by extremists in our country, particularly neo-Nazis. I know that God promised never to destroy creation by floods, but we have free will to destroy the nation and world on our own.
For the Jewish, Muslim, and Christians, reading the scriptures, even what I know of the Koran, must realize what God wants for all of us. I am a follower of Jesus. I find at times that I struggle with the senseless slaughter of innocents, the destruction of our planet, and the general blindness of God’s desires. Jesus said that there are two things that supersede all laws. That is to love God with everything we have, which is found in Deuteronomy, and to love our neighbors found in Leviticus. What a world we could have if we could just do these commands regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or political persuasion. I’m not sure what it would take. Maybe just starting with small acts of love and compassion. It’s hard to do in the environment of especially our country today. John Wesley stated in the essentials unity and everything else diversity. Jesus’ commands are the essentials. Almost everything else is just man-made. All doctrines need to default back to these commands.
What this means for me, is that I need to reflect on how my behavior towards others and myself speak to these commands. As I look at the world around me, how do I respond to others with the love Jesus has shown me? Do I spend more time reacting to others? Do I get angry about how leaders ignore issues? I struggle. I do get angry and sometimes I can get caught up in demonizing them. I can use my anger is ways to institute change for our future generations. To help create a world where the first thing for children returning to school is not what to do with an active shooter exercise. I do find for me hope in Christ. But it does take myself and others to take seriously Jesus’ commands.
I have continued to read Genesis and will hopefully get back to commenting on what I see. But I would challenge readers to look at the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5-7. Reflect on what is there and what that may mean for our lives together.
Shalom
Eldon
