As the title indicates, I'm feeling torn between a reasonable reading, and my first response: disappointment. Since I value reason more, I'll start with disappointment. I read the following verses several times:
PSA 68.5: A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
PSA 68.6: God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
Before & after these verses, there is a lot of 'wow, the greatness of God', and 'woo-woo', and whatnot. I must admit, I have a tendency to space off a bit at verses like this: "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel"(PSA 68.8). We really only need a verse or two like this, but it seems like Psalms is about half cheer leading. So, sandwiched between all this rather excessive praise (I know it's God, but enough already), are the two verses I noted above.
As I said, at first I read these verses & was disappointed. I teach public school, and I see far too many fatherless children every day. I read this sentence, and I think, "No, actually. I can write a loooong list of kids I see in class who have been abandoned, abused, beaten." So I felt disappointed in this pack of lies.
I puzzled over the "judge of widows" part; still not sure what that means, and I read right over the "holy habitation" line. I paused again at "God setteth the solitary in families," and felt more disappointment in the somewhat smaller list I have of people who are lonely & wishing for families; I thought of orphans, the homeless kids at school. And of course, the "bound with chains" line brought lots of atrocities to mind. More lies!
Then I went back because the widows part was bugging me; I reread it several times, rather grumpily, until my brain finally grasped the part where it says, "God in his holy habitation." Duh. It's talking about church. Fatherless children find guidance in church, a religious community. This makes sense to me. Church makes sense, and I understand an important aspect of organized religion is belonging, which brings me to this cool story from NPR. After listening to this story on the radio, I kept thinking about how cool it would be to go to a hip-hop church, then I realized I'm a 35 year old literature teacher who listens to jazz and acoustic guitar. But good for them, anyway.
If one carries the church idea through the second verse, it makes a lot more sense as well. Though the chains lines takes a lot more of a stretch; the only way for some to escape their chains is through hope & faith, which, hopefully for them, isn't a stretch. The last part of verse 6 makes me sad, because I think of Cool Hand Luke. I think of that last scene where he talks to God about being a hard case. He accepts his lot, opens the door, and is shot in the neck. I wonder if God embraced him? I'd like to think so, though we get no sign of it in the movie. I love that movie, because I understand Luke. Well, not the 50 eggs, or the fight in prison yard, but the show me a sign scene in the rain. Sigh...
Oh, and PS: leave me a comment if you're reading, or a question, or some other commentary. I like to chat.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Friday, December 28, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Some thoughts on Psalms & Secularism
My immediate reaction to the Westboro Baptist Church & anyone who supports them is violence and profanity. But then I know that they do what they do because it ends up earning them money; they do what they do because they need the press, and when I react, I'm giving them what they want. Not to mention the fact that people become alarmed when I say what I'm thinking sometimes. I do have a certain...penchant for hyperbole.
Whilst I was reading Psalms, I bookmarked these verses because this is scripture I appreciate. This was a couple of weeks ago; I marked them with a whole different social issue in mind, but then the horror in Connecticut happened, and I have a more exigent issue to discuss.
Psalms 37.1: Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Psalms 37.2: For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. (I know this will detract from the seriousness of my post, but I love the imagery of a giant God-lawnmower cutting a path through the thick weeds.)
Whilst I was reading Psalms, I bookmarked these verses because this is scripture I appreciate. This was a couple of weeks ago; I marked them with a whole different social issue in mind, but then the horror in Connecticut happened, and I have a more exigent issue to discuss.
Psalms 37.1: Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Psalms 37.2: For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. (I know this will detract from the seriousness of my post, but I love the imagery of a giant God-lawnmower cutting a path through the thick weeds.)
This verse actually brings me some peace. It doesn't completely quell the furor I experience when I see headlines like this one: Westboro Baptist Church Says It Will Picket Vigil For Connecticut School Shooting Victim, but it does temper my thoughts.
That being said, I do wish the cutting down would happen sooner rather than later. Or the withering, or whatever. Sometimes when I look at the daily news, I am overwhelmed by ugliness. Obviously more so now than at other times, but I feel like we, as a nation, would be so much better off if we could just internalize these two verses. I know I will be better off.
I believe wholeheartedly in our secular society. The separation of church & state is of fundamental importance to the freedoms of our citizens. Look around the world at the countries where religious leaders or groups are given power to dictate law in a society, and you'll see countries which are oppressive, misogynistic, & totalitarian. (Iran, anybody?) We have to take a secular approach to our schools, our laws, and the basic workings of our society. The WBC people are wrong and monstrous on every level, but second to the pain and suffering they cause, I hate the fact that they try and impose their horrid "religion" upon our purposely secular society. No good can come from that train of thought.
It's the Psalms above that should allow even the most socially conservative Christians to live in our secular society without too much trouble. We should be able to accept other people for who they are, and allow them their sin with the understanding that nobody is perfect, and there is a higher power who will "cut down" the "workers of iniquity." Something I need to work on, too.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The most ungodly
Today, I spent a good 45 minutes of my prep period weeping at the news of the children who were murdered in Connecticut.
On days like today, my own struggles with the idea of God surface. I have a little girl, who is the light of my life, and I'm terrified of not being able to keep her safe. It's always in the back of my head: I can't control the world, and thus, I can't make sure she's always safe. As human beings, we have to recognize that things happen. Cancer happens; accidents happen; life & death happens - no parent is guaranteed our kids will outlive us. But we don't anticipate mass murder in a preschool. If there's anything truly ungodly in the world, it's this thing that happened today.
I can accept things like car accidents, natural disasters, disease - even war, though one of the ugliest faces of humanity, is something we must accept. These are things we put in the category of things which we hope don't happen; things which are out there; things we must guard against. But today's horror I cannot accept. I cannot categorize; I cannot. I simply cannot.
I wish I were one of those people who could turn to my faith for comfort. But I just get angry, because what God could watch such a thing? God is supposed to protect the children, the innocent. I find no comfort today in the idea of an omniscient Creator. It's easier for me to accept no God than it is to accept this idle God.
I heard this comment today:
On days like today, my own struggles with the idea of God surface. I have a little girl, who is the light of my life, and I'm terrified of not being able to keep her safe. It's always in the back of my head: I can't control the world, and thus, I can't make sure she's always safe. As human beings, we have to recognize that things happen. Cancer happens; accidents happen; life & death happens - no parent is guaranteed our kids will outlive us. But we don't anticipate mass murder in a preschool. If there's anything truly ungodly in the world, it's this thing that happened today.
I can accept things like car accidents, natural disasters, disease - even war, though one of the ugliest faces of humanity, is something we must accept. These are things we put in the category of things which we hope don't happen; things which are out there; things we must guard against. But today's horror I cannot accept. I cannot categorize; I cannot. I simply cannot.
I wish I were one of those people who could turn to my faith for comfort. But I just get angry, because what God could watch such a thing? God is supposed to protect the children, the innocent. I find no comfort today in the idea of an omniscient Creator. It's easier for me to accept no God than it is to accept this idle God.
I heard this comment today:
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
By way of introduction
Hi. First, thanks for reading.
Before I dig in, I suppose I should spend a moment introducing myself & my purpose for the blog. . I grew up LDS; well, that is, I spent my formative years LDS. My parents divorced when I was in the 3rd grade, and then I spent half my weekends with my mom in her Mormon service, and the other half of my weekends in a Catholic service with my dad. I clung to my Mormon identity for a while, but by the time high school arrived, I was done with all religion. Turns out, growing up with a foot in the Mormon church & a foot in the Catholic mass can cause a lot of resentment & confusion. Mostly resentment on the part of other kids who thought I was catching some sort of awesome break because I didn't have to go to church very often. And mostly confusion on my part because only part time attendance in both churches made me a constant outsider. This is not a tale of woe so much as an explanation for my odd position on religion. I guess I'm Christian, though that's about where any similarities between me and the rest of the Christian world ends. Part of my motivation in reading the bible is for the sake of knowing it. I doubt this endeavor will end in some sort of profound spiritual catharsis, though I suppose it could. More, my motivation is intellectual curiosity.
Additionally, I teach English at the high school level, and I often find biblical allusions in the literature I teach. So to add to the intellectual curiosity piece, I'd like to be able to speak with more authority on the subject. Often I have students who come from deeply religious families, and they know the bible because they live it. I don't like being the ignorant one in the room on this one; I take pride in my craft, and I feel I'll be much improved as a teacher once I have a greater grasp on this particular text. So.
I actually started this about a year ago when I downloaded the book of Esther - a book I chose because it was a female character & a good short book. I didn't want to start with Genesis (I've tried that before, and it's pretty awful reading). I blogged about it and moved on to Job which cheezed me off, and I put the project down. Now I'm back to early American Lit & again curious about the allusions I keep reading about. It's just not good enough for me to read summarized versions on Schmoop or Sparknotes.
I started with Psalms for two very important reasons: first, it comes after Job, and second, it's so often quoted. You know how people will tattoo something like, "Psalms 22:21" on their arms, but then they won't tell you what the verse is, either because they were drunk when they got it and don't remember, or because only people who are a part of their exclusive bible club & who have also memorized that verse will know, and that way they'll have an appropriate level of self-riteous "us/them" shit going on. Typically, and unfortunately, it's the latter, which makes me sad because I love a good drunken tattoo story.
Now, my first order of business when it comes to Psalms is, of course, the unicorns. By the way, I'm reading the King James version, and to get the full gist, you need to read the verses that come before the unicorns: 22:7-22:21. Essentially, the narrator is being beset by dogs & bulls & lions, his bones are all out of joint, and they stare at him (which is maybe the narrator's conscience), his heart is waxen, and is falling into his belly (his heart sinks into his gut - I'm with him on this one); any way you look at it, this guy is in horrid bad shape. It's a little "Fear and Loathing." I understand it's metaphorical, but the imagery I get from the literal reading is pretty hilarious. He begs for help from the Lord and then says, "Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns."
The first place my brain went with this: seriously? I'm gonna have to find a unicorn horn to speak through for God to hear me? Not exactly the sort of scripture, in my opinion, that would inspire confidence. I considered it for a while, made fun of it with my husband, and then googled it. I learned that some scholars interpret the unicorn not as the mythical horse creature with one horn, but as the very real single-horned rhino. The reference seems to make more sense this way, but it doesn't create a better way to communicate with the Lord. I don't want to have to poach a rhino to talk to God.
And yes, I understand figurative language. Maybe "thou has heard me from the horns of unicorns" is simply missing the phrase, "as if from," which would clearly make it a comparison which I could dig because I would imagine a disembodied rhino horn used in the same fashion as a conch shell or modern day bullhorn.
I find there are two very reasonable interpretations of this verse: that the speaker's prayers were heard as if they were shouted by a bullhorn at God, loud & clear, or that the speaker was lucky enough to have with him an actual unicorn horn with which, apparently, one can use to get a direct line into the office of the Big Man himself. Logically, it seems like it must be the former, though the latter makes me giggle every time. And to be honest, sometimes I do feel like we need a unicorn to be heard; look at our world - every day those who are beset by dogs are mauled and taken down despite their most fervent prayers. Part of me thinks maybe it means exactly what it says.
Before I dig in, I suppose I should spend a moment introducing myself & my purpose for the blog. . I grew up LDS; well, that is, I spent my formative years LDS. My parents divorced when I was in the 3rd grade, and then I spent half my weekends with my mom in her Mormon service, and the other half of my weekends in a Catholic service with my dad. I clung to my Mormon identity for a while, but by the time high school arrived, I was done with all religion. Turns out, growing up with a foot in the Mormon church & a foot in the Catholic mass can cause a lot of resentment & confusion. Mostly resentment on the part of other kids who thought I was catching some sort of awesome break because I didn't have to go to church very often. And mostly confusion on my part because only part time attendance in both churches made me a constant outsider. This is not a tale of woe so much as an explanation for my odd position on religion. I guess I'm Christian, though that's about where any similarities between me and the rest of the Christian world ends. Part of my motivation in reading the bible is for the sake of knowing it. I doubt this endeavor will end in some sort of profound spiritual catharsis, though I suppose it could. More, my motivation is intellectual curiosity.
Additionally, I teach English at the high school level, and I often find biblical allusions in the literature I teach. So to add to the intellectual curiosity piece, I'd like to be able to speak with more authority on the subject. Often I have students who come from deeply religious families, and they know the bible because they live it. I don't like being the ignorant one in the room on this one; I take pride in my craft, and I feel I'll be much improved as a teacher once I have a greater grasp on this particular text. So.
I actually started this about a year ago when I downloaded the book of Esther - a book I chose because it was a female character & a good short book. I didn't want to start with Genesis (I've tried that before, and it's pretty awful reading). I blogged about it and moved on to Job which cheezed me off, and I put the project down. Now I'm back to early American Lit & again curious about the allusions I keep reading about. It's just not good enough for me to read summarized versions on Schmoop or Sparknotes.
I started with Psalms for two very important reasons: first, it comes after Job, and second, it's so often quoted. You know how people will tattoo something like, "Psalms 22:21" on their arms, but then they won't tell you what the verse is, either because they were drunk when they got it and don't remember, or because only people who are a part of their exclusive bible club & who have also memorized that verse will know, and that way they'll have an appropriate level of self-riteous "us/them" shit going on. Typically, and unfortunately, it's the latter, which makes me sad because I love a good drunken tattoo story.
Now, my first order of business when it comes to Psalms is, of course, the unicorns. By the way, I'm reading the King James version, and to get the full gist, you need to read the verses that come before the unicorns: 22:7-22:21. Essentially, the narrator is being beset by dogs & bulls & lions, his bones are all out of joint, and they stare at him (which is maybe the narrator's conscience), his heart is waxen, and is falling into his belly (his heart sinks into his gut - I'm with him on this one); any way you look at it, this guy is in horrid bad shape. It's a little "Fear and Loathing." I understand it's metaphorical, but the imagery I get from the literal reading is pretty hilarious. He begs for help from the Lord and then says, "Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns."
The first place my brain went with this: seriously? I'm gonna have to find a unicorn horn to speak through for God to hear me? Not exactly the sort of scripture, in my opinion, that would inspire confidence. I considered it for a while, made fun of it with my husband, and then googled it. I learned that some scholars interpret the unicorn not as the mythical horse creature with one horn, but as the very real single-horned rhino. The reference seems to make more sense this way, but it doesn't create a better way to communicate with the Lord. I don't want to have to poach a rhino to talk to God.
And yes, I understand figurative language. Maybe "thou has heard me from the horns of unicorns" is simply missing the phrase, "as if from," which would clearly make it a comparison which I could dig because I would imagine a disembodied rhino horn used in the same fashion as a conch shell or modern day bullhorn.
I find there are two very reasonable interpretations of this verse: that the speaker's prayers were heard as if they were shouted by a bullhorn at God, loud & clear, or that the speaker was lucky enough to have with him an actual unicorn horn with which, apparently, one can use to get a direct line into the office of the Big Man himself. Logically, it seems like it must be the former, though the latter makes me giggle every time. And to be honest, sometimes I do feel like we need a unicorn to be heard; look at our world - every day those who are beset by dogs are mauled and taken down despite their most fervent prayers. Part of me thinks maybe it means exactly what it says.
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