A Blameless and Upright Man In the beginning of the Book of Job, God calls Job “a blameless and upright man” (Job 1:8). [1] He feared God, did no evil, and obeyed the commandments. In case any of his children cursed God in their hearts without his knowing it, he sanctified them and made burnt offerings. All he did was good in the sight of the Lord, and he was rewarded with a great wealth of children, oxen, camels, many servants, and more. This theology, that if we do good, we will receive good, was common back in the day (the 4th to 7th centuries BCE) when Job was written.…
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Jonah and A Message for Our Time
A Call to Compassion Once upon a time, there lived a prophet named Jonah. He was a real person who lived sometime around 800 BCE, but the story in the Bible that contains his name wasn’t written down until about four centuries later, and it hardly represents his life accurately. Indeed, it is a satirical tale, but it offers us a serious message. Jonah’s name means “dove.” Since the dove symbolizes Israel, we can assume that Jonah symbolizes her, as well. He was also the son of Amittai, whose own name meant “faithfulness,” but Jonah was far from faithful. When God told him to go prophesy to Nineveh, he ran…
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Evil, Idolatry, and Life
Paul and Religious Authority Nearly thirty years ago, when I started seminary, I read an article about the letters written by that ancient Christian leader, Paul. In it, the author quoted an ex-slave who said she never read Paul because white preachers had used his words against her and her loved ones, quoting Colossians 3:22: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is upon you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord” (NIV). She knew that didn’t come from God. If that was the kind of thing Paul wrote, she would have nothing to…