DAY 9
From the devotional book Beyond Words by Frederick Buechner
“ACCORDING TO THE PROPHET SAMUEL, God wanted King Saul to wipe out every last one of the Amalekites–not just the men, but the women and children, the babies and the residents of the old folks home. When he heard that Saul had decided to spare the Amalekite king, Agag, he was so enraged that he tore the royal robe from Saul’s back and told him to consider it a mild fore-taste of how God would tear the kingdom of Israel from him next. He then had them drag out poor Agag, who was quick to size up the situation. With something less than total conviction, he said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past” (1 Samuel 15:32). Within seconds Samuel had personally hacked him to pieces to prove that God meant what Samuel said that he said.
Since Agag had hacked quite a few people to pieces himself in his day, he may well have been dismayed by the experience, but can hardly have been surprised. What was perhaps new to him was the length to which the friends of God will go to make God enemies.”
1 Samuel 15
My reflection Holy genocide, Batman! After reading this devotional I read 1 Samuel 15. It’s my belief that if this chapter were ever made into a movie it would have to have a rating of no less than NC17. It makes the Game of Thrones Red Wedding seem like a fun, festive party by comparison. It also reminds me why I find much of the New Testament pretty much unreadable. Although I hung around the perimeter of Christianity most of my young life, I didn’t actually fully accept it until maybe 20 years ago. So you might say my Christianity has just passed its adolescent stage. The overarching concept that finally pushed me to fully accept Christianity is the concept that God is love. Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). For someone whose entire fuel of life was fear, this was extremely liberating stuff. Then I read passages like 1 Samuel 15, and it feels like the Star Trek miror universe. Where up is down and left is right. This was not the God I learned about in my high school and college Bible study classes, where the seeds of my faith were planted. In so many instances the God of the Old Testament came across as vengeful, spiteful, cruel. Wipe out an entire nation of people? Down to the last infant? Seriously? Not only would I not wish to worship that God, I’d run away from that God, as fast as my stumpy legs could carry me. But I also learned in those Bible study classes, later reinforced in church, that Jesus issued in a “new covenant” with God and we no longer had to live by the old ways. Yay! Problem solved! Right? Well, apparently, not exactly. Particularly recently, I’ve seen more vestiges of the Old Testament God popping up in today’s Christianity than I am comfortable with. The God I worship is nothing like the monster we see in passages like 1 Samuel 15. In fact, He is very much the polar opposite. And because of the New Covenant we don’t have to live that way anymore. So, I am asking, why do we insist on holding onto potentially toxic ideas we don’t even have to hold onto anymore? This is an earnest question, I have no idea of the answer.
- Our Weekend Getaway - January 22, 2024
- So Long, Mom, And Thanks For All The Spaghetti - November 10, 2023
- Thoughts On The Chogaffirm Petition - June 3, 2023
- Rhonda - June 3, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 23 - April 4, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 21 - April 1, 2023
- State Of The Household - January 9, 2023
- Book Review and Miscellany Thoughts - November 18, 2022
- Initial Thoughts On My Writing - September 13, 2022
- Beyond Words Day 19 - September 11, 2022
