TorahBytes: Fragmented Existence (Shofetim)

Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the LORD your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 16:20-22; ESV)

As I read the Scriptures I am continually struck by how they relate to all of life. That it touches every area of life is something that many Bible readers understand, but the way it does so is not always acknowledged. The Bible sees life as integrated. While not every aspect of life directly affects every other aspect of life, effective living is accomplished through a holistic rather than a compartmentalized approach. While we tend to compartmentalize our lives, the Bible sees the various aspects of life as one whole. It is not as if the spiritual aspects of life are separate from the non-spiritual ones. The Bible calls us to live life from a godly perspective, that is all of life lived in response to the one true God.

This is why the Torah can speak about the need to uphold justice and the rejection of idolatry in the same context. Remaining true to God is intimately connected to how we treat people. This may be difficult for us to understand, even when we regularly read the Bible and respect its teaching. It is difficult because we don't understand life this way. Instead of seeing life as an integrated whole, we tend to break up life into compartments that seem to have little to do with each other.

I know that most people are not philosophically minded and therefore don't think in these terms. Most people don't go around talking about their compartmentalized vs. integrated lives. But it is important for followers of the Scriptures to understand this if we are going to live life the way the Bible prescribes. While we might say we adhere to the Bible's teaching, we don't always notice how we are swept away by the assumptions of the world around us. There is more to living a biblical life style than being committed to a set of moral principles and professing to adhere to a list of religious statements. In the Scriptures God provides us with an entire outlook on life which is quite different from the way life is lived today.

For many of us, life in the 21st century includes a set of assumptions that actually undermine a biblical lifestyle. While it is always possible to remain faithful to biblical principles in any situation in any time period, we face a bigger challenge today than we might be willing to admit.

For example a great number of people live their lives over an enormous territory. Many people today travel in a single day further than most people throughout history travelled in their life time. One of the effects of this is that our homes, our places of our work, where we pursue leisure, and the services we partake of are completely separate from one another. Instead of only relating to one social group as people have done for most of history, we have many, most of which may never intersect with the others. Our business life is separate from our home life which is separate from our congregational life which is separate from our medical life and so on. This fragmentation is probably felt most in our home lives, since families have less and less shared experiences. We spend most of our energy at work or school and then wonder why we struggle to feel connected to the members of our households.

The Bible doesn't envision life this way. It is not just that the Scriptures were written when life was simpler. The values expressed in Scripture kept communities knit together. It was ingrained into the society that all of life was meant to relate to all of life. God's directives on land use, holy days, family relationships, sexual fidelity, care for the poor and needy, hygiene, authority structures, all helped build healthy community life.

Society's rejection of God's ways in favor of "doing our own thing" has resulted in a fragmented existence, where the bits and pieces of our lives have little or nothing to do with each other. As a result we spend so much energy just to get through a day. No longer do we have a rhythm of life that allows for strong community and healthy families, which are the basis of strong and healthy individuals, which are the basis for strong community and healthy families, and so on.

What is the solution? First, we need to recognize what is going on. Our fragmented existence is overwhelming us to the point of distraction. We cannot be what God meant us to be while being pulled in so many directions as we are today. We need to begin to reverse the trend. If life was meant to be lived as an integrated whole within families and communities, then we need to take steps to restore just that. Working closer to home or from home would bring us closer to one another. We should ask ourselves if it is really necessary for us and our children to pursue the amount of leisure and extra-curricular activities that we do. Restoring family time, especially at meals would draw families together. Equally important would be to discover ways in which families and neighborhoods could begin to have shared experiences again. Congregations need to become places of community, not just a place where we satisfy our spiritual needs and wants. In fact, it is in these biblical-based communities that we can help one another restore life to the way it was meant to be lived.

TorahBytes: Secure in Threatening Times (Re'eh)

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17; ESV)

The last major section of the Book of Isaiah, chapters 40-66, focuses primarily on God's spiritual and physical restoration of Israel. It is here that we are given glimpses of a future return to the Land and of spiritual revitalization. We have hints of the coming Deliverer, also known as the Messiah, who is central to this revitalization. According to Isaiah God's work among his covenant people will also mean great blessing for the whole world. That which was promised to Abraham in the early chapters of Bereshit (English: Genesis) are thus fulfilled.

The blessings of God through the Messiah have both corporate and individual implications as we see in the verse I quoted at the beginning. Interestingly this is not speaking about the time when the world is completely set to rights, when evil and death are vanquished, but rather sometime before that when Israel as a nation rests secure in God. Weapons of potential destruction and opposition continue to exist, but the servants of the Lord are confident in the face of them.

This prediction is in keeping with the blessings promised by God through Moses to Israel on the condition of their keeping his directives. What we see in the Book of Isaiah, especially the earlier chapters, are the consequences as warned by Moses for failing to do that. The promise of restoration and the resultant sense of security comes about, not on the basis of adherence to God's commands, which the people failed to keep, but rather due to God's deliverance through the Messiah.

The predictive elements of the biblical prophets are similar to looking at a far-off mountain range. Looking from afar we have a semblance of the complexity of the mountains, including some of its various peaks. Perhaps we can vaguely make out some vegetation and other aspects. It is only as we get closer to the mountain range that we begin to discover its detail, including its valleys, canyons, rivers, inhabitants, and so on. The discovery of the detail doesn't contradict the original view, it only clarifies it. The result of this clarification may give impressions very different from the original long-range view, but the difference in impression has more to do with our assumptions than the actual reality of the scene.

For example, the descriptions of God's restoration of Israel as spoken by Isaiah and the other prophets appear to refer to a particular single time period, but as history has unfolded we see that the actual details are more complex than originally anticipated. Specifically, it was assumed that when the Messiah would come, all the predicted blessings would happen in their fullness at that time. But instead the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel has been working out over a very long period of time.

What has occurred is that the promised reality has significantly, though partially, come about through Yeshua the Messiah. His resurrection is the foretaste of all the good things prophesied. While we still await the day when Isaiah's words will be completely fulfilled and Israel as a nation will rest secure in the midst of great opposition, we can know this kind of confidence right now through faith in Yeshua. While part of God's plan may be eventually to bring about the fullness of this reality for the entire nation in a very brief time, he offers this reality to us now.

The world appears to be more and more of a threatening place. Not that long ago if I would have told you that the day would come when you would not be allowed to bring a regular size of tube of toothpaste with you onto an airplane, you would have thought I was crazy. But that day is now here. Also, we are regularly told about the increasing possibility of the next great global epidemic. But by and large most people are oblivious to these emerging threats. We cope by ignoring these dangers and by distracting ourselves with work and the pursuit of pleasure. The day will come when we will no longer be able to ignore them. Our coping mechanisms will fail us.

But this is not "the heritage of the Lord" that Isaiah speaks of. There is a confidence and security available right now to those who welcome the power and presence of the Messiah into their lives. If we truly trust Yeshua, living life according to God's ways as laid out in his Word, we have nothing to fear.

TorahBytes: Real Living (Ekev)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:3; ESV)

I think this is one of the most important verses in the entire Bible. The principle expressed here is fundamental to the kind of life God calls us to live. God purposely allowed the Israelites to experience great hunger in the wilderness in order for them to learn this lesson. Having gone days without eating, God began to provide a miraculous food called "manna." For the next forty years manna would appear on the ground every day of the week, except on Shabbat (English: Sabbath). The people were only to take as much as they needed, but no more, lest it go bad. It was also miraculous that on the sixth day they were able to take twice as much to provide for Shabbat. Once the people entered the Promised Land, the provision of manna stopped.

Food is one of our most basic needs. Without it we die. Those who have little of it, know what it means to be obsessed with eating. What is interesting, though, is how much those of us who live in affluent societies think about eating. It would be instructive to realize how much of our life motivation is driven by our stomachs. My guess is that it is much more than we might be willing to admit.

In order for the people of Israel to be the people God wanted them to be, this issue had to be addressed. This lesson had to be learned.

What is the lesson? "Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

In order for the Chosen People to live like the Chosen People they required a perspective shift. They (as do we) needed to learn that even though the human drive for food is so strong, that it was not to be the thing which drove their lives. Instead God's Word was to lead them.

The real shift that God was calling for was a shift from a self focus to a God focus. Instead of arranging our lives based on our personal needs and desires, whether they be legitimate or not, life should be based on God's directives.

What may be difficult to grasp is that this is the way we were all designed to live. Adam and Eve should have lived that way, but didn't. Now that we are on this side of Eden, it is much more difficult, but still, as human beings we were designed to live on earth as children of our Heavenly Father. We are not animals who were designed to live life based on their drives. We were intended to be children of the King of the Universe, children who trust their Father's care and are attentive to his words of guidance and direction.

But due to the chasm that exists between us and God, we think we are alone in this world. We think we need to care for our own needs. We live as if are abandoned children, as if we don't have a caring Father at all.

The Hebrew Bible tells us that this is how the ancient people of Israel actually lived. They never learned this basic lesson. It would take another kind of miracle to learn it - a miracle of a changed heart.

When we come to know Yeshua the Messiah, God begins to teach us this lesson from the inside out. Because of what Yeshua has done for us, our sin - the cause of our separation from God - is forgiven and through his Spirit he heals our sense of abandonment. Still, we don't learn this lesson automatically. We need to stop imitating those around us who live life based on their desires and, instead, learn to trust God. As we learn to live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD, we will discover what living really is.

TorahBytes: God's Highway (Va-ethannan)

A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isaiah 40:3-5)

Isaiah paints a vivid picture of a lone voice in the midst of hostile uncharted territory crying out: "Prepare the way of the Lord". God, having been absent from his people for a long time, is coming back to be among his people again. The ancient paths have become rough and overgrown. But get ready! Smooth out the terrain! Level the mountains! Raise the valleys! Build the passage way! God is coming! The glory of God will be seen by all. Who God is, his character and his power, will be displayed for everyone to see. But first, prepare! Do what it takes to remove the obstacles to his coming. It'll be hard work, but it's worth it! "Prepare the way of the Lord!"

Isaiah spoke these words well over 2600 years ago. Much has gone on since then. You may not be aware that these words have been essentially fulfilled. Another prophet arose about 600 years after Isaiah. His job was to prepare the way for God to return to his people. God was to be revealed in a way never before seen: the sick healed, the blind seeing, the dead rising, the afflicted and oppressed filled with joy and gladness, ungodly religious and political structures confronted - the Messiah had come, God returning to his people.

Since then the Messiah's work has continued. As in the days he walked the earth, even though it has not worked out as expected, the glory of God has been revealed throughout the world. Maybe you haven't seen it, but that's another story. There's something else I want to address.

We are two thousand years since the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah's words were fulfilled by Yeshua. Yet it seems to me that his presence has become obscured. The level paths have become unusable again. Did we not realize that the highway through the wilderness upon which God travels, needs to be maintained?

In fact those entrusted with maintaining God's highway have focused on other roads. Instead of investing in the infrastructure of God, we have been spending our energies on the values of the surrounding culture: self, success, money, pleasure, and so on. Dressing up the world's ways with spiritual talk and God's name doesn't make them anything but what they really are: distractions, emptiness, and sin.

If we stopped to take a look at the actual state of things, we would see that we are in the wilderness again. Unless we take the time to do the hard work of clearing the way again, we will miss out on the power and presence of God.

I am aware that there is much fuss being made about "what God is doing today." While it is not my place to determine the validity of various claims of marvelous happenings, I ask only that whatever may be happening be compared with the Bible rather than with people's opinions.

How do we prepare the highway for God? By practicing truth, holiness, godliness, righteousness, and honesty. All these must be rooted in faith in the Messiah, but a faith that is not expressed in these things is illegitimate. Prepare the way of the Lord!

TorahBytes: Commandments (Devarim)

Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:26; ESV)

There are two types of commandments in the Bible. These two types could be broken down into sub-types, but at a certain level, there are only two. The first are what we might call general commands. These are directives by God that apply beyond a certain place, time, and circumstance. "Do not murder" is an example of that, but so are the regulations concerning the sacrificial system. While the former applies to all people for all time and the latter only to the people of Israel during the time of the tabernacle and temple, both were intended to be followed by more than just the original hearers of the command.

The second type we might call specific commands. These are commands that apply only to those to whom they were spoken. This is what Moses is referring to in the verse I read. The book of Devarim (English: Deuteronomy) includes a retelling of some of the key incidences in the story of the people of Israel up until that time. This includes how they failed to trust God to enter the Promised Land. Twelve scouts had searched out the land and brought back a report to the people. The twelve spies were in agreement that the land was good. But only two of the twelve believed that God would enable them to successfully possess it. The people were influenced by the ten and refused to enter the land. In fact they wanted to return to Egypt.

While they faced a great challenge, naturally speaking, the real issue for the people was that God had commanded them to go and possess the land. He didn't offer it to them as a good idea. He told them to do it. That they were scared, we can sympathize with. But their decision to not do so was an act of rebellion against God's command.

While there are differences between general commands and specific commands, they are still commands. When we read specific commands in the Bible, we are not obliged to do them. They only apply to those to whom they applied at the time in which the command was given. Therefore whether or not to obey the commands of Scripture is not a matter of whether or not they should be obeyed as much as which commands should be obeyed.

God directs our lives through his commands. The way of life he provides for us is not just a nice offer that we can take or leave. God commands. He doesn't ask us to do things; he tells us to.

This is as true in the New Covenant writings as it is in the Tenach (Old Testament). The Messiah said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). To claim that his commandments are limited to loving God and loving our neighbor without understanding these as broad generalities intended to summarize and include everything else God dictates to his people is to totally miss his point. While Yeshua corrected all sorts of false notions about God and life that were popular in his day, he called his disciples, just as he calls us, to obey his commands.

The Bible gives directives, not suggestions; commandments, not requests.

We need to understand that neglecting to obey the commands of God which do apply to us is no different from what that meant for the people of Israel when they refused to go into the Promised Land. God doesn't take rebellion lightly. We may not always immediately see the consequences of rebellion, but it won't get by God.

If you think that God speaks to us in polite requests and that we have no obligation to obey him, read the Bible again.

TorahBytes: The Stages of Life (Masei)

These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. (Bemidbar / Numbers 33:1; ESV)

Every now and then I think back on the stages of my life. I have lived in several cities and have had various occupations. With marriage and having children has come new experiences, challenges, and blessings. In the midst of this, God has been taking me from one stage of life to the next - teaching me and changing me.

There are great lessons to be learned as we look back on the stages of our lives. What we are today is not the same as what we were years ago. This is true for individuals, for families, communities, nations, and the world. People were made to develop over time. We don't stay the same from year to year. We move from stage to stage.

Perhaps you haven't experienced the amount of change that I have. This could be because you are much younger than I am and time has not yet run its course. Maybe your circumstances have been more stable than mine. While this has become less typical than in the past, some people live, work, and die in pretty much the same surroundings and circumstances their whole life. Yet that doesn't necessarily mean that your life has not gone through various stages. Normal physical development alone means that you have had stages of life.

As important as our physical development is, more important is our spiritual development. The people of Israel were on a journey. Having been freed from slavery in Egypt they were on their way to the land of promise. As Moses details in this week's Torah portion, each stop along the way represents a stage in their journey. Each place was an opportunity to be better prepared for life in the Promised Land.

The stages of life are more than just the things that happen to us. As our life circumstances change or we develop as human beings, we have opportunities to learn, to allow change to occur in our inner selves. The people of Israel saw first hand the power of God in so many ways, but if they didn't learn from those experiences, they would have moved from stage to stage in their journey, but not from stage to stage in life.

One of the books in the New Covenant writings was written by the Jewish believer Yakov (English: Jacob or James). He may have been the natural brother of Yeshua. He writes:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4; ESV)

Yakov urges the followers of Yeshua to see their difficult circumstances in a positive light, since these are the things which produce good character. I don't think he is saying that difficult circumstances automatically have positive effects on our lives. On the contrary, some people become bitter over difficulties. But if we allow God to teach us what he wants us to learn through difficulties, then we can be changed for the better.

The stages of life are opportunities for us to be the people God wants us to be. As we anticipate the stages of life, let's not just try to get through them, but let's be prepared to learn what God wants us to learn. Also, as we look back as Moses did, we may be encouraged to see the things that God has done and the lessons we have learned, but there may be some lessons to be learned from the stages of life that we may have missed. Perhaps it is not too late.

TorahBytes: You Can Do It! (Mattot)

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 1:6-8; ESV)

A saying I have heard many times is "You can do anything you want, if you set your mind to it." This is something that only works when it does; otherwise, it doesn't. The purpose of this saying is usually to motivate someone to do something they really want to do, but may fear they can't. Fear is certainly an obstacle to accomplishment, and difficult tasks require that we determine as best we can to see them through to the end. But it is ridiculous to think that setting one's mind on something is in itself a guaranty of success.

The prophet Jeremiah faced the difficult task of being God's spokesman at a crucial time in the nation's history. When God called him to this task, we don't know if he understood the implications of his vocation, but what we do know is that he didn't feel up to the job.

God's response to him was not in the form of the kind of motivational speeches common in our day. God didn't tell Jeremiah that if he would set his mind on being a prophet, he would be a prophet. Nor did God challenge him to visualize success and strive for greatness.

What God did do was first, he told him not to put himself down. Jeremiah felt that his youth somehow undermined his ability to accomplish the task at hand. This may sound like a "don't be negative" pep talk, but it is deeper than that. It wasn't as if a positive frame of mind would automatically enable him to do what God was calling him to do. It was simply that when God calls us to do something it doesn't matter how old we are. Young people can be prophets too, if God so calls them.

Second, God said that Jeremiah would go where God would tell him to go and he would speak to those whom God would command him to speak. That may sound like, "You are going to do it, because you're going to do it." But that's not really what God said to him. God said that Jeremiah would go where God sends him and speak what God commands. God determined that he would take charge of Jeremiah's life, directing him and inspiring him. There is nothing we can't do when God takes charge like that.

Third, God told him not to be afraid. But this wasn't God just telling him to calm down as if he had no reason to be afraid. What God was telling him to do was truly intimidating. The reason Jeremiah was not to be afraid, was because God promised to personally take care of him.

God was not challenging Jeremiah to find power within himself to overcome the obstacles to his personal dream. Rather because God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, God would also enable him to do it.

Whenever God calls us to do something, he enables us to do it. That doesn't mean that everything God calls us to do will be easy, as we can see from the rest of Jeremiah's life. Still, no matter how difficult a God-given task may be, we can do it.

TorahBytes: Knowing God in the Darkest Times (Pinhas)

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers." (1 Melachim / 1 Kings 19:4; ESV)

I have the impression that many people equate true spirituality with serenity. To know God therefore would include not only a deep sense of contentment, but also intellectual peace and emotional stability. This kind of spirituality values statements such as "Nothing bothers me anymore." People who say this are either dishonest or spiritually dead - at least according to the Bible's understanding of spirituality.

This week's Haftarah includes a most difficult period in the life of the great prophet Eliyahu (Elijah). Coming off of a dramatic encounter with the forces of evil in the society of his day, he was exhausted and depressed to the point of wanting to die. Thankfully God meets him in that place, provides refreshment, rest, and gets him going again.

There are two ways that we can look at Eliyahu's depression. Some may say that he was losing touch with the reality he had known earlier. Call it a lapse of faith perhaps. The greater his faith, the nearer he was to God and the more genuine his spirituality.

If this is true, then the story doesn't make sense. God actually was never as intimate with Eliyahu as in his darkest time. Yes, prior to this he proclaimed God's Word, pronouncing both the beginning and the end of an extended drought and calling down fire from heaven. God's power was very present in those times, but it was in his depression that God's intimacy was most evident.

The other way to look at Eliyahu's depression, (and no surprise that this is what I think is the correct way) is to see that it is a normal experience for those who truly know God.

The book of Job deals with the issue of why the righteous suffer. Serenity was not part of Job's experience during his intense suffering. Some people like to sing Job's words, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21; ESV). While this is an exemplary response to the loss he experienced, to think of this in terms of "Nothing bothers me anymore," is to mock Job's suffering. Job struggled greatly and rightly so. He didn't deserve it. It was confusing - more than that - it was unjust and he told God so. It wasn't until God himself responded to Job's complaining that Job found a place of resolve. Are we going to say that if Job had been truly spiritual he would have silently accepted his suffering? I don't think Eliyahu thought so.

And neither would the Messiah. Prior to his arrest, as Yeshua went to pray, he said to his disciples, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Mark 14:34; ESV). Serenity? I think not.

In the same letter that Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4; ESV), he also speaks of how the preservation of the life of one of his friends prevented him from having "sorrow upon sorrow" (Philippians 2:27). Elsewhere he writes of being "perplexed" (2 Corinthians 4:8). Perplexed is not serene. Being perplexed is a sign of honest grappling with the realities of life.

Intense inner struggles are normal for people who truly know God. Knowing God in the midst of a world in rebellion against him will break your heart. This is not to say that following God doesn't include joy, gladness, and peace. Of course it does, but at the same time, we find ourselves being challenged by his reality in a world that by and large denies him. Sometimes this tension overwhelms us as it did for Eliyahu. But it is at these times that we need God the most. It is in these times that God often draws most closely to us. Thinking that depression is necessarily a sign of a lack in our relationship with God may prevent us from the kind of intimacy he longs for us to have with him in our darkest times.

TorahBytes: Lethal Connections (Balak)

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD's anger burned against them. (Bemidbar/ Numbers 25:1-3)

It is interesting the way some spiritually minded people use the word secular. Webster's defines this word as "of or relating to the worldly or temporal; not overtly or specifically religious ; or not ecclesiastical or clerical". In other words that which is disconnected from or not related to spiritual or religious things. People use the term "secular job" to mean an occupation that is not directly related to religious activities. Or "secular music" to refer to songs that don't contain overt religious or spiritual content. While a person's personal philosophy may separate activities along these lines, the biblical view of life does not create such independent unrelated categories.

The Torah understands the natural world as an expression of the spiritual. God created the physical world and remains intimately involved with it. Everything in the world is under his care. The primary responsibility of human beings is to care for the planet - a responsibility for which one day we will all give an account to God.

A biblical world view, therefore, makes no separation between the spiritual and the secular. This is why, for example, the word "vocation" is used for one's occupation. Vocation means "calling." There is a sense that our occupation is actually, or at least should be, a response to God's call in our lives. A vocation doesn't necessarily entail religious work. Whatever we do in life should be a means through which we honor and serve God.

The idea that there is such a thing as secular activities as separate from religious and spiritual ones has affected the way many societies view morality. For most of human history the way we relate and treat one another has had close connection to various forms of spirituality. The formation of so-called secular societies has become the basis for rejecting spiritual and religious concepts as having any basis for morality. It isn't clear, however, what secularists depend on for understanding morality. In fact, it is apparent that secularism has no basis for morality at all. Whatever morality is still upheld in our various societies are remnants of days gone by when spiritually minded people made laws based on scriptural principles.

The rejection of traditional morality in the name of secularization is not a rejection of spirituality however. In reality it is the rejection of one kind of spirituality in favor of another. The sexual revolution with all of its so called freedoms is no different from what the people of Israel did in this week's Torah portion. The men of Israel were lured into having relations with pagan women. Part and parcel with this illicit activity was the worship of the false gods of these women.

Secularists would insist that contemporary sexual freedom has nothing to do with ancient religion. I accept that many of the people today who reject traditional morality don't bow to idols and burn incense to false gods. Yet we should note that parallel to the rejection of traditional morality is the emergence of all kinds of ancient philosophies and religions re-branded for our generation. The forces behind the Moabite women of long ago continue to lure people into all kinds of sexual immorality in order to take control of their lives. Just as thousands of people died as a result of the incident recorded in the Torah, so today sexual immorality continues to lead to devastating and, at times, lethal outcomes.

This is one of the reasons why sexual sin is so dangerous. While it should be enough for us that God says, "Don't!", and realizing the damage such activity does to our relationships should cause us to avoid it at all costs, sexual immorality is deeply connected to lethal spiritual forces. There is something about this particular behavior that puts us under the control of deadly evil.

We should not be intimidated when secular people seek to delegitimize the warnings made by those of us who know the seriousness of such things. We are too easily brushed aside because we are told that our viewpoint is a religious one. This is a matter of life and death based on Truth. Secularists disregard God's Word to their own peril. But so do we, if we fail to recognize immorality's lethal connection.

TorahBytes: Learning from Moses (Hukkat)

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:6; ESV)

What do you picture when you think of Moses? Do you have visions of the Great Man of God with his face shining and the wind blowing though his hair? Do you hear a Prophet with booming voice, instructing God's people in his ways? Or how about the Wonder Worker with staff extended by the Red Sea as it parts miraculously before the people? Or do you see a Man of Steel confronting the King of Egypt demanding, "Let my people go, or else!"

While Moses did do these things, I don't think this truly provides an adequate picture of the man. Like anyone else, Moses was a complex human being with strengths and weaknesses. The extraordinary things he did were actually the work of God. God chose him for these tasks. God sent the plagues, parted the Red Sea, dictated the Torah, and protected and provided for the people all the years in the wilderness. As for Moses himself, when he was younger he tried to stand up for his people in his own way, resulting in his running for his life and spending forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness. When God eventually called him, he felt inadequate and fearful to the point that he basically told God "No".

This week's Torah portion relates another tragic affair in Moses' life. It is difficult to tell exactly what he did wrong in the rock-hitting incident, but God said to him, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:12; ESV).

If Moses failed at the end of his life, what hope is there for the rest of us? One could look at this and wonder how anyone could successfully serve God, but is that the intended message? Partly. One of the themes of Scripture is our intrinsic weakness, or perhaps more accurately, our sinfulness. The Bible confronts us with our inability to attain God's requirements or to meet his standards. We cannot make it on our own. In spite of all the books and seminars trying to tell us how to be successful, at the most basic level, on our own, we are doomed to failure. While it does seem that there are those who possess a veneer of success, as far as the things in life that count most, such as character, relationships, true spirituality, and so on, we all, like Moses, fall short.

In spite of Moses' failings, he demonstrates to us the key to living life the way God intended. Even though he did not do this perfectly, it was a foundational element in his life, especially once he accepted God's call. Once he embarked on his mission, he faced issue after impossible issue - whether it was Pharaoh's obstinance or his people's fickle ways; from an oppressive environment to the threat of hostile peoples; having to deal with political infighting, moral decadence, despair, and fear - Moses faced problem after problem after problem. But how did he deal with them? Prior to the hitting of the rock, there was no water - a life and death situation for the two million people that Moses was leading. The people, we are told, had "assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron" (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:2; ESV) - no water and a possible revolt. It's one thing to read this story, it's another to stop and realize what was really going on. Most of us get edgy when we miss coffee break and we fall apart when any one says a nasty word to us. May I suggest that this situation was far worse?

But what did they do? We read,

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:6; ESV)

Moses and Aaron went from being in the presence of the people to being in the presence of God. This wasn't some nice sweet prayer meeting. The Torah tells us they "fell on their faces." Moses and Aaron expressed great humility in God's presence as they demonstrated complete dependency upon him. It was in that place that God told them what to do. That Moses didn't do exactly as he was told, only underscores the point.

God calls us to be dependant on him. As we look at Moses throughout the Torah, this is what we see him do over and over again. With each and every challenging situation, Moses looked to God for wisdom and guidance. When we realize that Moses was in so many ways just like you and me, we may also see that we can and should follow his example.

TorahBytes: Empty Things (Korah)

And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. (1 Samuel 12:21; ESV)

The monarchy in ancient Israel was established under the oversight of the prophet Samuel. Near the end of his life he exhorted the people to walk in God's ways. The verse I just read was part of that speech: "And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty" (1 Samuel 12:21; ESV). Good advise, but obvious, no? Why would anybody feel they would need to say "do not turn aside after empty things"?

"Empty things" is metaphorical language. Certainly Samuel isn't telling the Israelite to make sure that they don't use vessels that have nothing in them! He must be referring to "things" that they think could "profit or deliver" them, but according to Samuel, these "things" are "empty," meaning lacking value or use of any kind. This explains why at least one translation has "useless idols" (NIV) instead of "empty things." The translators must have thought that Samuel and his hearers would immediately understand that he was meaning idols specifically. Alternatively, the translators might have thought that we readers would not be able to figure out what "empty things" means, so they had to transform the figure of speech into something we would understand.

That idols are most likely included in Samuel's reference to "empty things" I accept. Idols would be the kind of thing that the people might "turn aside after" in hopes they might "profit or deliver". Samuel was reminding the people that such "things" are actually "empty" - they have no value; they are useless.

As for why he would need to tell them this, that's most likely due to the fact that people have been turning to idols for much, if not most, of human history. That they are useless and of no help has rarely stopped people from relying on them. Therefore I guess we have needed people like Samuel to tell us to "not turn aside" after them.

But Samuel didn't say "useless idols," the Hebrew words he spoke are more accurately represented by the English, "empty things", which would include "useless idols", but also every other "thing" that we might "turn aside after", but is in fact, empty.

Perhaps one of the most prevalent "empty things" of today is the increasingly popular personal approach to spirituality. In keeping with current post-modern thought, it has become more and more acceptable for individuals to develop a spirituality that "works for me." If a view of life makes sense to me and makes me feel good, then it is legitimate and acceptable. But the truth is that personal spirituality is "empty." Maybe it makes sense to you and makes you feel good, but there is a Reality and Truth that have nothing to do with personal opinion or taste. This is the Truth that Samuel knew; the Truth the Israelites were warned not to "turn aside" from.

The God of Israel is not "empty". He is the true God, the creator of the universe, the Master and Lord of all things. He alone is our help, our life, and our salvation. Nothing compares with Him. Anything else we may rely on is "empty".

Sadly, personal spirituality is increasingly in vogue among people who claim to believe the Bible. Many are concerned more with "what the Bible means to me" than simply "what the Bible means." If an interpretation "sits well," then it's deemed to be fine. Using the Bible this way also leads to the integration of all sorts of false spiritualities into a supposed biblical spirituality.

But these "empty things…cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty." Let us hear the words of Samuel and turn away from "empty things" and return to the reality of the one true God.

Book Review: The Shack

I decided to read "The Shack" by William P. Young, because of its great popularity and its enthusiastic endorsement by many Bible believers even though what I had heard about it indicated that it espoused a non-biblical spirituality.

Young deals with many important issues, including free will, the problem of evil, the love of God, forgiveness, passing judgment on others, abusive authority, etc. He does so through the fictional account (made to sound as if true - a key literary device used in "The Shack") of the main character, "Mack". Having suffered great personal tragedy, Mack receives a mysterious invitation to return to the place where the tragedy occurred.

At the shack, Mack encounters Young's depiction of the Trinity, namely "Papa" also called "Elousia" in the form of an Afro-American woman (though in one chapter "Papa" takes the form of a man, because in the experience that soon follows, as Papa says to him, "This morning you're going to need a father" [p. 210]). Papa as a woman is consistently called, "Papa," but using the pronoun "she." Jesus is called "Jesus" throughout and looks Jewish (he has a big nose). The Holy Spirit is an ethereal woman-like person with Asian features, named "Sarayu."

The bulk of the book is Mack's conversations and experiences with one or more of these three characters, plus a special appearance by a personification of Wisdom, aptly named "Sophia." The characters teach Mack what's what about himself, God, and life.

The style of the book evokes thought and emotion. The reader interacts with the other characters in the story through Mack. Mack is a sort of everyperson with questions about life that many of us have. He struggles through his strange experience with "God" in a way that I expect most of us would. As his heart softens to his experience, I suspect most readers would as well. I cannot say that the author intentionally manipulates the reader, but I have no doubt that if Young would have simply stated his theology, it woud be a lot more difficult to accept.

That Young uses story to communicate supposed theological truths should not in itself be an issue. We could mention many wonderful books that have done just that. The problem with "The Shack," however is that besides Young's questionable theology and ideology, he puts his ideas into the mouth of God. Some may not see a difference between C.S. Lewis's Aslan of Narnia or Bunyan's characters in Pilgrim's Progress and the characters of "The Shack," but both Lewis and Bunyan create fictional worlds through which they seek to communicate their version of truth. The reader in those cases knows that he is entering the writer's world and is invited to engage their ideas. Young creates a dream-like reality, where the reader's judgment is suspended and may easily confuse Young's fiction with truth. While "Papa" and "Sarayu" are extremely unusual depictions of the Father and the Spirit, the "Jesus" character is depicted as simply "Jesus". To write "And Jesus said" in any genre of writing, is best avoided unless we are quoting Scripture.

To make matter worse, Young's ideas themselves are far from biblical. As I mentioned, God the Father is depicted as "Papa" and most of the time is in the form of an Afro-American woman. This is reason enough to reject "The Shack" as legitimate. While God in his essence is not male or female, he has revealed himself in masculine terms, as "Father" in particular. While it has become increasingly popular to emphasize God's "feminine side," he chose to reveal himself in masculine terms. Jesus told us to pray "Our Father in heaven" (Mathew 6:9). Whatever value there may be in exploring the so-called feminine side of God, the Scriptures never encourage us to image God in feminine terms. Mack is told that the reason why Papa is depicted the way "she" is, is because she loves him and doesn't want him to fall back into religious stereotypes. Religious stereotypes may indeed be a problem, but not God-chosen biblical imagery. If we have misunderstood what God intends in the Scriptures, the Scriptures themselves will correct us, not new forms of spirituality.

We are given the impression that God's revelation of himself in the past was due to our need at the time. Since our current need is different, so God now reveals himself (herself?) to us differently. Even if that were true (which it is not), who is to decide how God is revealing himself? Young's depiction of God is one of his own making. It is not derived from the Scriptures. By using terms such as Elousia and Sarayu, we may suspect unbiblical spiritual sources. The gender-confused "Papa" may fit in with our post-modern society, but has no resemblance to the God of the Bible. And since when does God reveal himself according to our need? Our need is to accept God's revelation of himself. While God has accommodated himself to our understanding, he has done so in such a way to reveal to us who he really is. To change biblical images based on our needs or anything else is to risk changing the essence of God's Truth. There is more that can be said about the details of Young's version of God, but let's move on.

I mentioned that Young deals with some important questions, but his answers are unbiblical and extreme. For example, he attempts to resolve the issue of God's sovereignty and our free will by claiming that while God prefers us to do his will, we are always free to make our own decisions. Tell that to Pharaoh and Saul/Paul of Tarsus. According to Young, human institutions (namely religious, political, and economic) are the cause of all the evil in the world. The only things that matter to Young are love and relationships. This is Hippie talk, not Bible talk. Yes there are major wrongs that have been done through human institutions, but the problem is sin, not institutions. Governments, for example, according to Romans 13, have been instituted by God, not man, and they exist for a good purpose. Young "solves" the problem of evil and suffering, by calling us to understand the role that evildoers have in God's purposes. This is not the "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" of the story of Joseph (Genesis 50:20), but it is far more of a Hindu, "everything that happens is from God," so learn to accept life as it is without question. Yet Jesus taught us to pray "Your kingdom come, your will be done," not to sing "All you need is love."

Perhaps the reason why so many Christians love "The Shack" is because for the past several years we have played with and accepted all sorts of unbiblical concepts in the guise of legitimate spirituality. What Young has done is taken our current image of God and truth and rolled it into an appealing emotional package.

In the book of Acts with regard to the Bereans’ response to Paul's teaching, we read "they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so" (Acts 17:11). Paul instructed the Corinthian believers, "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said" (1 Corinthians 14:29). That "The Shack" might challenge our thinking or touch our hearts is one thing. But is Young's depiction of God scriptural? Are his answers to some of life's questions truly correct? God expects us to do more than accept something based on its appeal, its popularity, endorsements by famous people, or its emotional impact. We need to weigh whatever we are told and judge its validity based on God's Truth in the Bible. Based on this standard, "The Shack" falls flat.

TorahBytes: Where Faith Begins (Shela Lekha)

Not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. (Bemidbar / Numbers 14:30; ESV)

Faith is a central theme of the Bible. According to the Bible it is through faith that human beings can actually know God. While the Bible addresses a great many themes, including the origins of life, the nature of God, and how human beings fit into the grand scheme of things, it is faith that makes God real to us and thus effectively connects us with the rest of God's Truth.

Having said that, faith is a concept that is not easily understood. I don't know if we really understand what faith is or how it works. I have the impression, at least among English speakers, that most people don't know that the words faith, believe, and trust are all from the same Hebrew and Greek word. This may explain why so many seem to struggle over the relationship of how we live and what we believe. But once we understand that to have faith in God is the same as trusting him, then it is easier to see how the way we live is derived from what we believe. Faith as expressed in the Scriptures is never something that resides solely in the mind. While faith has a cognitive element, which is to say that what we believe includes an acceptance of certain propositions, it is never only that, since if we truly believe something, it will be demonstrated in everything we do.

Another confusion over faith is that it is only a lifestyle, that by following a set of moral and religious guidelines we demonstrate faith. According to this emphasis, the engagement of mind and heart are not that important, if at all necessary. Faith in this case is more of faith in a system of sorts rather than a belief, and lacks a sense of having a personal relationship to God.

This week's Torah portion is helpful in understanding the basics of faith. In preparation for entering the Promised Land, God told Moses to send twelve scouts to report on the state of the Land to the people. Upon their return, they confirmed that the Land was just as God had told them. They also reported about the peoples currently living in the Land. Ten of the twelve scouts said that Israel would not be able to defeat these peoples, while only two, Joshua and Caleb, said that as long as God was on their side, everything would be okay. As it turned out the ten prevailed, and the people refused to believe God.

God's response to the people's unbelief was to cause Israel to wander in the wilderness for an additional 38 years until all the adults who did not believe died out. The only exceptions were Joshua and Caleb.

Note that the faith of Joshua and Caleb did not find practical expression, at least not at that time. Even though they expressed faith in God by their words, it is not as if they went and took the Land while the unbelievers stayed home. The unbelief of the majority aborted the mission for now. Joshua and Caleb would remain in the wilderness like everyone else. But God saw their hearts. Their faith set them apart from the others even though their faithful response would not have opportunity to fully express itself for many years. God knew what they were saying with their mouths was more than mere words. He acknowledged the genuineness of their faith without thier having to prove themselves.

There is little doubt that if the opportunity to take the Land then and there was given to Joshua and Caleb they would have done so. God knew that. But clearly fruit of their faith was not necessary to establish the reality of their faith.

No matter what we may face in life, it is true faith that keeps us in right relationship with God. True faith, as we see through the lives of Joshua and Caleb, begins in the heart and mind. It rarely ends there, but that's where faith begins.

TorahBytes: The Great Harvest (Be-Ha'alotkha)

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God. (Shemot / Leviticus 23:22; ESV)

The biblical festival of Shavuot (English: Weeks or Pentecost) begins this year on the evening of Sunday, June 8. Shavuot is one of the three festivals when, along with Pesach (English: Passover) and Sukkot (English: Booths) all the men of Israel were to travel to Jerusalem to celebrate. One of the traditions of this holy day is the reading of the book of Ruth. This is likely due to the relationship of the directive I quoted at the start to an element in the story of Ruth. Shavuot takes place around the time of the conclusion of the grain harvest and God instructed the people of Israel to leave the edges of their fields and the gleanings for the poor. In the story of Ruth, Ruth the Moabite gathers gleanings in the field of Boaz, the man who will eventually marry her.

The relationship of Shavuot to the story of Ruth foreshadows the great climax of Jewish destiny. When God called Abraham, he promised, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Bereshit / Genesis 12:3). It was through Abraham's descendants that God would make himself known to all the nations of the world. God chose the Jewish people to be the light of the world (Isaiah 49:6). While the development of the people of Israel was to occur in virtual isolation, separate from the surrounding nations, the day would come when Israel would be God's instrument of world-wide blessing.

Ruth was of a member of one of the people groups with whom the people of Israel were not to intermarry (See Devarim / Deuteronomy 23:3). Yet God in his graciousness not only allowed Ruth to be joined to God's people, but made her the great-grandmother of King David, of whose lineage is the Messiah.

Ruth prefigures the gathering of the nations unto the God of Israel through the Messiah. Ruth's association with the harvest speaks of the great spiritual harvest among the nations. Through Ruth is descended the Messiah, the great representative of Israel and light to the Gentiles, the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham.

As the first followers of Yeshua gathered in Jerusalem during the first Shavuot following the return of the Messiah to heaven, Jewish people from all over the Roman empire were in the city for the festival. When God's Ruach HaKodesh (English: the Holy Spirit) came upon Yeshua's followers, they began to praise God in other languages. The Jewish visitors from outside the land of Israel were astonished to hear Yeshua's followers speaking in the languages of the countries from where they had come. Three thousand people came to believe in Yeshua that day.

One may think that this ingathering was the beginning of the anticipated harvest. But most of these new believers were Jewish people. This was not a turning of non-Jews to the God of Israel; it was a turning of Jewish people back to our own God. What was significant about these Jewish people is that they lived in various parts of the Roman Empire and spoke the languages of those regions. By God's Spirit they were now equipped to fulfill God's promise to Abraham. Through these new Jewish Believers the blessing of God would come to the Gentiles, the great harvest had begun - a harvest that has continued to this day.

TorahBytes: You Began at Conception (Naso)

And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Shoftim / Judges 13:3-5; ESV)

Ever since I came to believe in Yeshua, I have considered myself pro-life, or more specifically anti-abortion. Up until then I had accepted what I had been taught in 1973 while attending high school in the United States: that a fetus doesn't become a true human being until the fifth month.

I can't remember the process I went through regarding this issue a few years later after I had become a follower of the Messiah. Somehow believing that abortion was wrong went along with believing in the God of the Bible. I don't remember reading about it, having discussions about it, or hearing sermons about it. I just thought it was wrong.

To be totally honest, while I believed abortion was wrong and that human life began at conception, I was not convinced that we are called by God to protect preborn human life in the same way as we are to protect people who have been born. My thoughts were along the line that a baby breathing on its own was so considerably different from one who was still attached to his mother that abortion - wrong as it might be - should not be regarded as equivalent to murder.

Don't misunderstand me, whatever the differences may be between the preborn and the born, I still regarded abortion as a crime against humanity. That human beings would willfully terminate our preborn offspring is a sign of great depravity and should be considered a crime. Whatever differences there may be between the preborn and born children, the preborn must be protected from the misguided desires of those who wish to destroy it.

Whatever my views were on the subject, I had never really thought too deeply about it until recently. I am only now beginning to understand this evil for what it really is and have been looking to God to help me understand what should be done about it.

With regard to when human life begins - or more to the point - when does an individual's life begin - a life that should be protected by law and deserves to be viewed as precious and valued by all?

This week's Haftarah gives us some insight into God's perspective on this. It is the story of the foretelling of the birth of Samson. The angel that appeared to Samson's parents before he was born informed them that he would be a "Nazirite to God from the womb." A Nazirite was someone who took a special vow of consecration to God, usually for a limited time set by the person taking the vow. This is explained in this week's Torah portion, which is most likely the reason for the choosing of this particular Haftarah.

Normally being a Nazirite was completely voluntary on the part of the person taking the vow. In Samson's case, however, God predetermined that he would be such for his whole life even prior to birth. There are other biblical references to God having determined something about someone "from the womb." In these cases, it might simply be a way of saying "before he was born," without implying anything about the nature of the preborn. But in Samson's case, he actually was set apart as a Nazirite while still in the womb, implying individuality while in his preborn state. This is also made clear by the angel's instructions regarding his mother. While pregnant she was not to consume anything forbidden to a Nazirite. Samson was personally and individually a Nazirite while still in his preborn state.

This understanding of the nature of the preborn is also found in at least two other occasions in the Bible. Before Jacob and Esau were born, the Torah reads, "The children struggled together within her" (Bereshit / Genesis 25:22). Jacob and Esau were not non-person fetuses who would eventually become children. They were already children with personalities while still in their mother's womb. In the case of Yochanan HaMatbil (John the Baptist), when Miryam (Mary) greeted Yochanan's mother, Elisheva (Elizabeth), the preborn Yochanan leapt in his mother's womb (Luke 1:41). Elisheva described what happened as "the baby in my womb leaped for joy" (Luke 1:44).

To consider the preborn as anything less than a true human person is contrary to the biblical perspective. You began at conception. From that point the only significant changes you experienced were development and birth. Terminating a pregnancy is the murder of an individual person in their preborn state. Just as Samson's parents needed to adjust their lives for the sake of their preborn child, so we need to make whatever adjustments are necessary to protect the lives of our preborn children.

TorahBytes: Getting Right with the Environment (Bemidbar)

And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal (Hosea 2:10; English: 2:8, ESV).

What a world we live in! While I am well aware of the reality of suffering and tragedy, we live in a most marvelous place. I have heard that for many astronauts, their biggest thrill was not being thrust out into the darkness of space at unimaginable speeds, floating in zero gravity, or walking on the moon, but rather seeing the earth. When I take my daily walk, I can be so focused on my own thoughts that I miss what is around me. But every now and then I am struck by the beauty of nature: a magnolia tree in full bloom, a scarlet cardinal, or a pair of deer sitting on the forest floor. It takes my breath away to encounter nature's beauty and intricacy.

Aside from beauty, nature provides us with so much, including our basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. It also enhances our lives through the pleasures of comfort and entertainment.

This might seem obvious, but we were made for this place. While the state that the earth is in is not what God intended, nor is it now what it will be one day, it is the sphere of our existence. I am aware that many people think that our destiny is in a heavenly, non-earthly sphere, but that is not actually what the Bible teaches. We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, and those who are right with God will be resurrected to live on the new earth. Maybe we will come back to this subject some other time. Suffice it to say for now that we were made to live on planet earth.

One of the things that God has sought to teach us is how to understand our place on this planet. Because of the rebellion of our first parents against God, everything about life on earth has been out of sorts. We are surrounded by such bountiful beauty provided by God for our good, yet due to the disruption of our relationship with him, we tend to abuse nature.

The prophet Hosea speaks of this in this week's Haftarah. God through his prophet says that Israel was ignorant of the fact that God was the provider of the good things of earth. The result of this ignorance is destructive. Having been blessed with precious metals, instead of using them appropriately, they became instruments of idolatry.

When we fail to acknowledge God as creator and provider of the good gifts he bestows upon us, we end up wrongly focusing on the very things he has graciously given us. God designed the elements of his creation for all sorts of good purposes, but when we fail to understand their true origins, they become destructive.

The only way to fully appreciate and properly relate to nature, therefore, is to know the God of creation. Once we are restored to him through Yeshua we can see this planet through his eyes, discover our God-given place here, and learn to utilize the things of his creation in the way he intended.

Prince Caspian the Movie misses the mark

From the moment its release date was announced, one of my daughters was counting the days until the movie Prince Caspian (the second of the Chronicles of Narnia series) came out. That it was opening the day before her 17th birthday made the anticipation that much more exciting.

Our whole family loves the Narnia Chronicles, and were quite pleased with the movie version of the first of the series, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Though not perfect, it adequately captured the essence of the book, and thus brought to the society at large key elements of the Gospel.

After the success of the first movie, I had high hopes for Prince Caspian and its timely message. Prince Caspian takes place when the children from the first book return to Narnia a thousand years later, Narnia time. They discover that by this time the Narnia they knew - a land of talking beasts and other fanciful creatures, ruled by the Messiah-like lion, named Aslan - is now regarded as myth and fairy tale, except by a very few. The true Narnians live in hiding for fear of their lives. The rightful king, the boy Caspian, is secretly taught the Truth and eventually stumbles upon the Narnians. With the help of the four children from our world and Aslan, all is set right.

The state of affairs we encounter in Prince Caspian mirrors our own - a civilization that owes so much to the Scriptures, but regards it all as fanciful myth that only ignorant people believe. Very few people are left who take these stories seriously.

As my daughter kept abreast of the news about the movie, she tried to tell me that they had made some significant changes. I usually prefer not to know anything about a movie I have decided to see, so she kept the details to herself. I accept that movies adapt books in ways that I may or may not appreciate. Instead of hearing about this or that detail, I preferred to see it all in context upon watching it.

I was shocked to see that not only had they rearranged elements of the story, added some things, and left other things out - all of which is to be expected - they changed the essence of the story. Instead of portraying a time when the reality of Narnia had become regarded as myth, the supposed "extinction" of the old Narnians was due to oppression by the ruling class. Instead of being the spiritually relevant story that is so needed today, Prince Caspian has been transformed into yet another politically correct adventure movie. I don't recommend seeing it.

One of the things that make C.S. Lewis' writings as poignant as they are is that they effectively communicate God's truth within a society that has lost its spiritual moorings. As intellectuals redefined reality for the modern world, pushing it away from a biblical understanding of God and life, Lewis calls us back to the old stories.

The movie version of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe gave us hope that Lewis' legacy was being preserved for a new generation, that the biblical world view would at least be part of the contemporary discussion. The movie version of Prince Caspian, on the other hand, reminds us that Hollywood cannot be trusted with that legacy. While the movie may lead many to read Narnia who have never read it before, it will not have the impact it once had if it is filtered through the lens of the film. The old stories have been forgotten. Not only do people regard the Bible as myth, an ever increasing number of people are not even familiar with it. It never was Hollywood's responsibility to preserve the ancient stories of God. May God help us to preserve his legacy in our day.

TorahBytes: God Our Refuge (Be-Hukkotai)

O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble (Jeremiah 16:19; ESV).

One of my sons asked me the other day if troubles are on the increase. The recent disasters in Burma and China may make it feel that way. He wanted to know if I thought that tragedies such as these are signs of the soon return of the Messiah. I mentioned that if the destruction of ancient Jerusalem, the fall of the Roman Empire, the Black Plague, and the Holocaust, not to mention the other innumerable natural and man-made catastrophes did not usher in the end, I don't know if we could be certain that these more recent events do either. He said it seemed to him that such terrible things are on the rise, but then he said that since the increase of trouble coincides with his becoming older (he just turned 20), and thus more aware, then perhaps it may simply appear to him as if disasters are on the increase.

Whether disasters are actually on the increase or not and whether or not the return of the Messiah is as near as some claim, trouble is still trouble. I don't think those who are suffering spend too much time in speculation.

The prophet Jeremiah lived in troubled times. He was not speculating when he asserted

O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble (Jeremiah 16:19; ESV).

Jeremiah paints a vivid word picture. To Jeremiah God was like a strong high tower during a flood or a fortified building in the midst of war. God was his place of safety and protection in very dangerous circumstances.

What does God being our refuge mean? Some may think that it refers to having a secure future in God. Waiting in hope for better times can help us endure trouble, but while this was likely true for Jeremiah, hope itself is not a refuge. There is something about the here and now that is being expressed.

Others may think that Jeremiah learned how not to be overly affected by difficult circumstances. Yet he says that God is a refuge in the day of trouble. He is not engaging in psychological or spiritual escapism. Trouble is real and it is troubling. Jeremiah knows that. Still, he claims that there is very real help available to him at the same time.

Jeremiah is also not implying that he is confident that God will quickly change his circumstances. His emphasis is on refuge, not deliverance. His need for refuge may be necessary for a considerable amount of time - a need that he believes will be met in God.

In order to understand what it means for God to be a refuge in times of trouble, we need to first understand the true threat of the danger that Jeremiah faced. His purpose in life was to be God's spokesman. The dangers he faced threatened to undermine and prevent his fulfilling his God-given task. But God was his refuge. His relationship with God enabled him to be what God called him to be and to do what God called him to do in spite of every force designed to neutralize him.

No matter how difficult things got, no matter how painful - in spite of the confusion, the betrayals, the intimidation, the fears, the discouragement, the closeness of death - God protected the essence of Jeremiah. As the flood of circumstances dragged the society of his day towards the depths of despair and ungodliness, Jeremiah was kept safe in God. Because of God, his refuge, he was able to live each day, staying true to who he was called to be.

TorahBytes: A Great Way To Start the Day (Be-Har)

If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. (Vayikra / Leviticus 25:35-38; ESV)

This past week I sent an email to my provincial Premier. I do that sort of thing every now and then. I write letters to my provincial and federal representatives as well as to the editor of this or that newspaper. I am told it makes a difference. I do believe it makes a difference. I think I may still do it whether or not it makes a difference, since I believe God wants us to speak out. While it is a good idea to be strategic in how we deal with societal matters, we can get so hung up on strategy that we fail to speak out.

The issue I wrote to our Premier about is one that, according to news sources, thousands of people are writing him about to the point that the government server recently crashed. At this point, he is refusing to listen. He thinks that the issue is such that it is his responsibility as leader to take this issue in a direction opposite to that of so many citizens.

The issue? The opening of the legislature's daily proceedings with the Lord's Prayer. Currently there is a committee studying alternatives to this tradition.

I think dropping, altering, or adding to the Lord's Prayer is a bad idea.

Some years ago, I don't think I would have written to the Premier on this. I don't think I would have commented on the issue at all. The Lord's Prayer is the prayer the Messiah taught to his disciples. It was not intended for the halls of government. It is for the hearts and lips of believers. However good it may be in and of itself, should we condone what appears to amount to meaningless traditions?

Obviously I feel differently today or else I wouldn't have written my letter of protest (polite and respectful protest, of course).

My hearing about the Premier's refusal to listen to his constituents (not only the thousands of unknown citizens, by the way, but apparently his own mother is quite displeased about his stand), has coincided with my giving further thought to the demise of Western Civilization - something that I am convinced has already happened to a large extent. Few people are willing to accept that the Western nations' rejection of their historical and cultural roots are leading us to the brink of destruction. These roots, which are derived from the Bible, have been the driving force of most of the good we have enjoyed in recent history.

Did you notice what the excerpt that I read from the Torah said? It speaks about how God commanded Israel to care for the poor. It is directives such as these that have lead the cultures of Europe and the Americas to care for the needy, the poor, and the sick. The Bible teaches us to take responsibility for the less fortunate among us. To cut our society free from its traditional roots undermines it completely. For our leaders to treat the Lord's Prayer with contempt shows a complete lack of understanding for the foundation it represents.

The reciting of the Lord's Prayer is a reminder to our governmental leaders that our society has roots in the God of Israel and his Word. The regular reading of the Messiah's model prayer is an encouragement to our leaders and to the society at large to take note of his reality and of his availability to all of us.

For some the exclusive use of such a prayer no longer fits in a pluralistic society such as ours. But I wonder if those who have such a concern have ever read it. I mean have really read it. I know that it is a prayer that is associated with traditional Christianity and all its trappings, but actually it is a prayer with deep Judaic roots that emphasizes that the God of Israel is the Father of all who call upon him. It is a prayer of humility, of reliance, of forgiveness, of protection, and deliverance. I can't think of anything better with which to start the day.

TorahBytes: Israel: 60 Years (Emor)

So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD. (Vayikra / Leviticus 22:31-33; ESV)

This Thursday (May 8, 2008) is Yom Ha'atzmaut, the commemoration of the declaration of the state of Israel by David ben-Gurion on the Jewish date of 5 Iyar 5708 (May 14, 1948. Note that the Gregorian equivalent changes year by year. The day is also adjusted to avoid the Sabbath - for more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Ha'atzmaut).

This year marks 60 years since the modern state of Israel was established. That's 60 most remarkable, difficult, controversial, miraculous, confusing, distressful, profound, intense years. Israel is the world's youngest ancient country. No other nation has ever risen from the dust of history like this. From the ashes of the Holocaust it rose as from the dead to become an advanced modern democratic society. Living under the continued threat of annihilation, it has continued to not only survive, but thrive.

Readers of the Bible understand that the existence of Israel in our day is more than an interesting fact of history. It is a testimony to the faithfulness of God to his covenant people and a witness to the truth of the Scriptures. The reality of Israel's existence takes what could be an intangible spirituality and brings it to the domain of the real - the here and now of everyday existence.

To say that Israel evokes emotion and controversy is an understatement. Few if any countries top the news as much as Israel does. Yet it ranks 96th by population and 152nd by land mass. People who read the Bible shouldn't be surprised. We might say that once God planted his flag in that tiny land centuries ago, all hell let loose. The events of the last 60 years as significant as they are, represent only one chapter in a most complex and difficult history for that location.

Whatever anyone thinks of the Land of Israel, ancient or modern, readers of the Bible should understand that behind all the political maneuverings and media postulations lie the plans and purposes of God. I am aware that the details of this as expressed by preachers and scholars are as diverse as the political musings. But at this 60th anniversary, it would be most beneficial to get as close to the core of the issue as possible. Whichever "end times" scenario proves right, whatever theological perspective is most accurate, however the current political situation plays out, the real controversy over the land of Israel is that God made it holy.

I think for most Jewish people, Israel represents survival - a place to call home after almost 2000 years of dispersion. But God's intent for the Jewish homeland has always been for it to be that and so much more. The land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was to be home to a nation of priests, serving the Master of the Universe in his holy dwelling. Its destiny was that it would be the place out of which his Word would go forth to the rest of the world.

This is a destiny that has been realized, yet is still awaiting its fullness. For it was in this land that Yeshua prepared his followers to proclaim the reality of the One True God to all the nations of the world. Yet we still await the day when all the nations will gather in this land to worship the One True God as he reigns in peace over all the earth.

Until that time Israel remains in turmoil, having survived against all odds, not understanding its continued call to be priests to the nations. But that day is coming.

Happy birthday Israel! May you come to your destiny soon.