August 24

OT -- Job 12:1-15:35
Oh, this wrenched my soul. "If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed."
Twice, I have sat beside the bed of someone who begged to die.
I didn't have an answer on either of those days and I do not have an answer now.
I do have my own end of life documents drawn up but in a recent discussion with my doctor, he told me that if any one in my family challenges those documents, they will not hold up. And my mother is opposed to my choices.
In Job's case, he thinks his problems are the result of God's anger to him. And there are people today who think the same thing. Oh, I shouldn't have done that, I should have done more, etc., etc. And of course, Eliphaz agrees with Job. "Your sin prompts your mouth".

One thing to remember is that the ancient Israelites from the time of Moses until the Exile did not have disease in the Holy Land. Any illness, sores, plagues, etc. were a direct judgment from God that the people were not following him. It was a curse.

Job is written as poetry and is one of the oldest parts of the Bible. Most scholars date it at least Mosaic possibly older due to the original Hebrew. The view of God is definitely one of intimacy. Job plays the role of priests in his family (offering sacrifices for his children's partying) and he lived longer than 100 years making his life span around those of the patriarchs.
But regardless of the age of the book, much has not changed in attitudes since Job. We still speak of 'why did I "deserve" to get XYZ disease?'. Or he/she is such a 'good person'. This should not have happened to them.
I heard those words at church on Sunday.
Job's friends are alive and well at Mt Vernon Presbyterian AND I suspect, most churches, schools, and workplaces.
Careful, careful, careful on words that we speak 'in comfort'.


NT -- 1st Corinthians 15:29-58

And lest we Christians get snarky about 'those Mormons, their weird underwear and cultist practices', what was ole Paul and his Corinthians doing in baptism? That's right. Baptizing the living for the dead. Don't forget, Christianity was once a cult of Judaism.
OH, now I've brought the house down on myself. But I have learned a lot from a really cool blog -- Ask Mormon Girl

I got a little heat earlier in the week from someone who occasionally pops into my blog. He said it was okay to quote his email,
"You know, I have a hard time deciding if you are a Christian with issues or a Christian want-to-be. I think the problem is, YOU don't know which category you belong in."
In all fairness, I think he hit the nail on the head. But I think these same sort of people inhabited Paul's Corinthian church as well. "But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come." I can so see myself asking that same sort of question to my Sunday School teacher Belle DuPont before she threw me out of 5th grade Sunday School for the heresy of thinking the Bible may have been written as an explanation of visitation from aliens.
And rather than respond like Paul "How foolish!", I would just rather have been told, 'we don't know.' No one, not even a brash 11 year old wants to be told they are foolish. Much less a grown up.
I've got news for Paul. At the time he wrote the Letter to the Corinthians, HE didn't know about resurrected bodies. To his credit, I am sure he does now.

Proverbs 21:30-31
I am changing the banner of my blog to today's proverb:
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."
Should be on the top of every day's planner.

Much love, honor, and perseverance to you.