After a long hiatus I am back to reading. I realized that I was reading the material ahead of schedule. I actually outpaced myself and kind of hit a wall, it kind of felt like having writers block. I read the passages but found nothing inspiring to right about. Then after a while, I felt like I was forcing myself to try to write about something that I did not really believe. So, I didn’t right anything at all. Until, now.
I went back and read a lot of Psalms and Proverbs in order to keep my reading in chronological order. And I have to tell you… man, that was a lot of boring reading. I know that Psalms is suppose to be songs of praise but, come on… these songs need to get a Will.I.am remix. All jokes aside, the good news is, after weeks of reading I found a passage worth writing about.
2 Kings 5, talks about having the ability to accept God’s blessing, even when they don’t come to you the way that you think they should. Long story short, Naaman is a great soldier for King Aram and when Naaman hears that a man of God is in Israel he goes there to ask of him to cure him of his leprosy. Now Elisha is the newest “man of God” prophet, having accepted the calling after Elijah. So, hearing the Naaman’s request Elisha tells him to go and dip himself in the Jordan River seven times and he will be cured. Naaman is enraged with Elisha’s command, because he expected Elisha to do some chanting, burn some offerings, call out God’s name and see the heavens open up as the way for the cure. Eventually his little boy persuades him to accept Elisha’s consul and go to the river. When he washes in the river, he is instantly healed, and goes back to Elisha to praise him, accepting the God of Israel as the one true God.
I really connected to this passage because so many times in life I feel we ask for help, only to be upset when the help doesn’t arrive exactly the way we want it. I know I am guilty of doing this and I think I am probably not the only one. A friend once told me that he was going into McDonald’s when a homeless man standing by the door asked him for some change or food. So he offered to buy the man a hamburger from McDonald’s, to which, the man replied, “Can you get me a burger from Jack in the Box, it’s just across the street”. After a bit of a debate, the man eventually caved in and accepted the burger from McDonald’s. Now this may be an extreme case but it really does drive the message home.
Anyway, this leads me to my second favorite part of the passage in 2 Kings 5.
Elisha’s servant and disciple, Gehazi, is miffed when Elisha refuses to take any gifts (money) from Naaman for healing him. So, Gehazi waits until Naaman leaves Elisha’s house, then catches up to him, saying that Elisha sent him to collect talents and clothing from Naaman. Grateful to be blessed, Naaman gives him the talents and clothing. When Gehazi returns Elisha questions him as to where he has been and of course, he lies. Knowing the truth Elisha tells him, “Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes—or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.”
Gehazi punishment is of little concern to me. What is fascinating is that Elisha, having “twice the spirit of the Lord” in him, is upset by Gehazi’s decision/action to try to take money for doing God’s work. This is yet another instance in the bible where I see examples that God is not a fan of people collecting cash for his work or for spreading his word. Yet, this kind of behavior is still so heavily practiced and favored till this day. I have no long speech to make about people using God’s name to make a profit… I only have a question.
Why do we accept this kind of behavior in our churches, synagogues, temples, televisions, and in our lives? And yes, I did say Televisions. Evangelist answer back.
Because the Bible is the handbook for the Church which is a political power which ruled pretty much everything. Remember that when Henry VIII couldn't get a divorce because of the Catholic church, he started a NEW church to get what he wanted. So if he could simply re-arrange things (as, you know, kings are proclaimed by God himself), then this is kinda the old-world version of "Nabisco Presents the Bible" - he had the money and power to do what he wanted, so he did.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about power. Even if you're simply FOLLOWING the Bible it's about power. Devout followers of the teachings of the Bible have "power" over unbelievers because they "know" they're right. Just as knowing things that go wrong did so because "God works in mysterious ways." That's safer and more powerful than "woops, I have no idea."
Matt, if the Bible is a handbook for the church, then why wouldn't they eliminate every verse or passage that talked about God or God's Prophets denouncing people who used the work of God for profit?
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't Henry VIII or the guys at the Vatican get rid of this passage by now?
And if messages like this still prevail in the bible to this day, then why do people continue read it and yet do the exact opposite of what the message is teaching?
Sometimes I think people don't even read the bible, yet alone in depth enough, to even know that messages like this exist in the bible. And if that's the case then the bible can't be held accountable for the actions of stupid people who say they're "followers" of the Bible, or THE WORD, and yet they don't even read enough to know what the word is saying.
I do agree that the Bible has been changed and messed up so many times that it's hard to know what are the true teachings and what is BS. But I feel that with all those pages there has got to be somethings that are still good about it. I feel this way about all spiritual teachings.
I don't think things like this can exist for this long without having some merit of truth in them. And that's what I am trying to do, find the truth within the pages. I feel like sometimes we confuse our feelings towards the messenger with our feelings towards the message. And yes, it does go both ways.
By the Way just purchased Ovid's Metamorphoses and waiting for it to arrive. Did some research on it and I can't wait to read it, seems really cool. Thanks.