Monday, January 12, 2009

Shade Tree Wisdom 1/12/09

The judge was kind of abrupt, but very sure He threw the case out. He said “You already have a day. So your suit is groundless.” The lawyer asked why he did that. So the Judge laid it out. You come as an atheist and want a day set aside for your group. Well, you already have such a day.

So the lawyer asked for further explanation. The judge replied, “You say there is no god and want a day set aside for you. The Bible says, “The fool has said in heart, there is no God,’ April Fools day is all yours. Case dismissed.”

A recent book by Phillip Howard, Life Without Lawyers, liberating Americans from Too Much law, points to the fact that we are a litigious society. For instance, a volunteer for a Catholic charity in Milwaukee ran a red light and injured another person. The volunteer did not have ‘deep pockets’, so the injured person sued the archdiocese – successfully, for 17 million dollars.”

Where will this lead to? Schools in Broward County, Fla, banned running at recess. Because someone might get run into and hurt, and the school sued. So, because of fears of liabilities, school playgrounds all over America have removed play equipment, and we have millions of fat children sitting in front of TV and computer screens, not running and playing like children have for generations.

Is there such a thing as living pain and accident free? Then how do we explain Job’s problems? A man God himself called holy suffers loss and indignities and his friends chime in with “what did you do, Job, that this happened,” There has to be a reason! Eliphaz says, “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed? My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same” Job. 4,7.8.

Psalm 73 struggles with this problem as well.

Then Jesus speaks of those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell, were they worse sinners? His reply, “I tell you no! Unless you repent, you too will perish” Luke 13,1ff.

Finally, we must indeed acknowledge that God does not think as we do, because He is God, infinite, all wise, and loving and caring. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55, 8.9.’

Sufficient for us to know that Jesus loves me, enough to suffer and die for me. Thank God for such a Savior, my Savior.

GPD 1/12/09

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