Hello, I’m about to pour out my heart about a topic that burns in my bones, and is relentlessly howling through out this heart and mind on a daily basis. So here we go!
I do not understand how there are one hundred ninety seven verses (197) throughout scripture about how believers are to treat the poor, and everyone is so preaching about the love of God, and “Christians” are followers of God in the flesh, Jesus the Christ, and there continue to be over 500.000, almost six hundred thousand homeless just in the United States alone!
This doesn’t make sense to me when I read scripture! I have spent some time weeping over this very thing, and God knows this to be true.
I’m going to quote a great rabbi, Abraham Heschel from the book he wrote titled: The Prophets.
“What manner of man is the prophet? A student of philosophy who turns from the discourses of the great metaphysicians to the orations of the prophets may feel as if he were going from the realm of the sublime to an area of trivialities. Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of definitions and demonstrations, he is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about corruption of judges and affairs of the market place. Instead of showing us a way through the elegant mansions of the mind, the prophet takes us to the slums. The world is a proud place, full of beauty, but the prophets are scandalized, and rave as if the whole world were a slum. They make much ado about paltry things, lavishing excessive language upon trifling subjects. What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? So what if some old woman found pleasure and edification in worshiping “the Queen of Heaven “! Why such immoderate excitement? Why such intense indignation? The things that horrified the prophets are even now daily occurrences all over the world. There is no society to which Amos’ words would not apply. Amos 8:4-6 Here this, you who trample upon the needy, And bring the poor of the land to an end, Saying: When will the new moon be over That we may sell again? And the Sabbath, That we may offer wheat for sale, That we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, And deal deceitfully with false balances, That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals, And sell the refuse of the wheat?”
Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice- cheating in business, exploitation of the poor- is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode; to them, a catastrophe, a threat to the world.” This is what burns inside of me, and my pet peeve when it comes to missions, churches, mega churches, rich Christians driving by the homeless in Teslas, and such behavior (fruit?). Ye shall know them by their fruits
So, that’s what I’m talking about, and I’ll attempt to be more specific and to the point as I get more focused. May the peace of God be with you, and the blessings of God flow through you to others in need!
Thank you for stopping by, and reading the writings of a crazy old man!
J
Is it just me, or is the world insane? 