Parakalein

A Rabbi shares a new perspective on Genesis three.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is about Good and not good.  The sense of good, not good, good enough and bad are looked at in the context of what the Christian community calls the fall from union with God. Is it a fall, a trip, a planned event?  I call it the "fall into grace" as prior to this event the communion with God was natural and daily.  Now the communion is because God shows up regardless of their behavior as he demonstrates the attributes of mercy and grace, hereto fore unnecessary.  Grace is the way of communion with God

https://www.alephbeta.org/course/lecture/2-godly-knowledge/autoplay

In this video the Rabbi Fohrman offers a different perspective on this "falling" into sin.  The Christian doctrine of Original Sin is introduced in the Christians perspective of this event.  I call it the "fall into Grace" as this event opened the door to God's grace ding visible.  Prior to this their was no need of grace or ,mercy for God and humanity were at one in their communion.  But some thing changed.

The Rabbi saw the action of Eve and Adam as independent acts of defiance.  They were told to eat freely of all the trees in the garden but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Not Good (Evil they were not to eat of for in the day they eat of it they will die.  The part of humanity that does not respect limits imposed on them even if they are for their own good.  They wanted to "masquerade as the master" and so they wore a mask not just over their face by a mask ver their nakedness, fig leaves.  A poorly devised and implemented plan that God in grace and mercy upgraded to animal skins.

The Rabbi related it to a parent giving gifts to a child,  The child is feeling loved by these many gifts so is laying with them with joy and happiness.  The parent wants the child to enjoy (the first positive command in the Torah- "enjoy"), but the parent also wants the child to be appreciative not in a simple or even necessary thank you but in how enjoying they are of the gift.  Being thankful is expressed in that joy. When it is not enough or when the child wants more it is seen is ungrateful and unsatisfied.  It leads to ignoring any prohibition as to get that need of affirmation.  I can have whatever I want.  This moves the child from health=y appreciation for what he has to unhealthy greed and avarice that is unsatisfied by the moor. :By showing the discipline of respecting the prohibition one shows the discipline and resolve to enjoy what God has given"

The tree was there so they could demonstrate their resolve to enjoy what God had given and not need or think they needed more.  It was not the fruit that was good, bad, evil or not good.  It was the choice to set aside focusing on that God has given and rather focus on the restriction or prohibition until defiance kicked in. Having failed at the discipline of enjoying what God had given them they lost their sense of innocence and purity.  It was their perspective that was contaminated and so it is our perspective that needs to be addressed as the "faulty perspective" not the "Fall into Sinfulness".  It could be thought of at the fall into the propensity to lose perspective then act in sinful ways that sin against ourselves not just others and God as did this first act of betrayal.  Indeed betrayal of trust to enjoy what God had given is a true betrayal and the seeds (not respecting limits) of all betrayal.

Thank you Rabbi for your perspective.  I will give mine, augmented by his, in a couple of days.

Thank you for reading.

When I was afraid that I had lost everything and everyone important to me I could see nothing positive.

Grey skies were black.  Black skies were blacker.  Blue skies were all gone.  Truly it was not true but it was true in my mind.  Negativity negates everything positive in me.  That is how it felt as I slipped into a "cave of hopelessness".   When light shone into the cave I began to have hope even before I was ready to come out of the cave.  Hope began the work of life in me.

So why are we so negative when a positive approach is more help.  Why do we sing it "Accentuate the Positive, "Accentuate The Positive"

The Pope is a powerful and personal leader of the church.  He challenged all people to put faith and works aheads of anything and everything else.  He challenged people to take down walls and open up windows.


www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/26/pope-francis-mass-basilica-philadelphia/72870000/

An amazing day for all of us.   Imagine what we as earthlings could do if we united around faith and works without disenfranchising or devaluing the faith in all creation and all systems of theology and practicology.  Building bridges is far better than throwing bombing them.

God created the World and he made a covenant with his creation to watch over it, to care for it, to be present for it regardless of what happened to the creation, what the created choose to do or not do, and regardless of anything, everything would be by design for balance and interfacing and interloping within the created order of things.  God has always keeps this covenant with Creation.

Later, God made a covenant with Melchizedek and established the order of Faith in perpetuating Faith, Life and Love in the world.

Later, God established a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, who paid tithes to Melchizedek, and his descendants through Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah/Rachel, the twelve tribes of Israel where the new covenant people.  This did not nullify the previous covenants with creation, Humanity, or Melchizedek, it simply established another covenant relationship underscoring that God is a God of Covenant making not covenant breaking.

In the Book of Malachi where God presents the case for Israel and about their perpetual and persistent disobedience and indifference to the God of Grace, Truth, and Covenant.  Go declared that he would turn his heart toward all his children, the original covenant with humanity, and reframe a covenant of grace and truth through the messiah, the anointed one.  He was anointed to model the very thing missing in Israel: Humility, Honor and Honesty.  Truth and Grace Honor and humility would lead him to the cross and provide a model for all followers to embrace that same road less traveled.  IN Malachi when God speaks about hating divorce it was his hatred of the hurt and pain and suffering brought about when a covenant relationship was broken.  At the same time it made it clear that no covenant is ever broken as a covenant is always in force.  When scripture in Mark 10 speaks about divorce and the casual nature of Mosaic teaching on Divorce.  Jesus responds that this was because of the hardness of Moses people hearts and that no covenant can be broken and that the children of the covenant as well as the wife need to be cared for as part of the duty of the covenant maker.  Our society has was governing child care and spousal support but this was not true in Jesus day.  Jesus was simply saying "honoring a covenant is serious business always and even if for adultery a divorce is permissible the responsibility to maintain the caring covenant is inherent in the covenant itself.

God never stops loving humanity, the Jewish nation, each one of us.  God choses a bride of covenant of grace.  The Hebrews knew a Covenant based on Law and Grace.The "time of the Gentiles" begins with Jesus earthly ministry but is catapulted into prominence trough the death and resurrection and the persecution to follow of the church.  God made a new covenant based on his sacrificial blood and broken body, that invited all those who were hungry or thirty to come and drink freely from the water of Christ that waters the seeds of faith in all people.
Again this New Covenant, symbolized in the communion service and meal did not make the previous covenants null and void but simply offered a new and more heart oriented transformative experience of God's grace for all who would be open to that experience.

Michael Hyatt recently posted that he was wrong.

This caught my attention because I think the quality of "courage to admit wrong" is an elusive concept in general current thinking about true or quality leadership.

As a "Patriots" fan I was glad when the judge overturned The Commissioner of Football's suspension of Brady of four games.  Roger Goodell made his determination and judgment which is his right and "his job" (to quote Bill Belichick) I disagreed but respected his position.  When the judges ruling came out a week before the opening game on Thursday night when the Superbowl champions are honored the seat that the commissioner usually would be in was empty.  A strong leader would have been there not needing to save face, appear discontent, or just act like a hurt puppy dog.  He would have been there saying he did his job and that was his judgment and the judge did his job and that was his judgment meant and that he respects the process and the determination  even though he disagrees with it.  He could have said he was wrong.  But as the above statement indicates he could be respectful and present without saying he was wrong if he had a mind to be present.

Mature strong leadership does not always have to be right or vindicated.  Mature strong leadership does have to always be honorable, have integrity, and be visible.

Hats off to Michael Hyatt!
He is enjoying his apple watch!

Ken Segall in his book "Insanely Simple" raises the flag of the geniuses of simplicity.  Simplicity is marketable in our day of complexity and multiplicity in an empowering way.

He comments that Apple's sign process is guided by a principle called: "human-centric" focus.  In commenting on this Michael Hyatt says, "Beauty delights us.  That's why Apple's elegance invites engagements".  It stimulates more than looking at a watch it is using the watch to increase engagement in the human cosmos.

While he does not convince me to buy the Apple Watch which I have seen was a symbol of extravagance of living.  I do see the watch very differently.

Human-centricity coupled with inner-being (Thich Nhat Hanh) may be a better way to evaluate all we do and the way to peace in our world.

Some argue that there is no point to peace rallies because there will be no peace until Jesus returns and sets up the New Jerusalem or literally: "The City of Shalom/Peace".

Interestingly that theInternational Day of Peace follows the Lectionary reading for yesterday of James 4:1-12  Where do wars come from do they not come from inside where ether is conflict.  All human conflict from the domestic dispute to World War II, come from the inability to resolve inside of people the conflict that is inherently based on a win lose orientation to life and a winner take all concept.  This fosters the internal conflict of I either kill you or you kill me, or either I rule you or you rule me.  There is little room for cooperative, collaborative and communion building.  Our desire to win and our fear of losing foster the hostility that is justified by the hostility in others.  Mutual hostility creates mutual destruction.  Mature respectfulness and responsibleness fosters dialogue and resolve to be "sowers of peace who reap righteousness" (James 3:18).

So to those avid religious people who believe they need not be engaged in peace work.  How do they square that up with the clear injection into our mainstream of thought and injunction to our mainstream of Jesus to be "peace makers", to "sow peace", and "God has called us to peace" etc.

So I do advocate for peace in the name of him who is peace.  I do not abdicate the peace calling because of the futility of people but I engage in it as the utility of the peace of God available to all, for all, and intentionally in all.

Peace be to All in the name of the one w=at whose birth the angels sang:

"Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth (as it is in heaven) Peace, Good will toward all humanity"

We

R    1

-the people of earth



Here for the obvious is easy to miss.  Instead of working to be one, become one we are to affirm that while our behaviors and thoughts often contradict it the reality is the though we are all different we are all the same.

Great T Shirt Slogan for the Non-Violence focus we need in our day and society|>




"With Malice Toward None,

and 

With Charity Toward All"

Abraham Lincoln
March 5, 1865

A number of year ago I began training in Internal Family Systems a life shift therapy that invites people to see their internal world as made up of "Self" which the core element of compassion, courage, calmness, creativity, consistency, communion, clarity, etc. (notice the C words) and Parts which include God given parts in the system, and parts that are borne to help the system cope with life and trauma that threatens the system and causes the system to make shifts of it survival.  In some instances these are coping mechanisms and in other instances these become "defensive, protective, polarizing, and generally work against the system trusting the caring center or Self to be all the system needs to care for and settle down the fears and desire of these parts.  The fears keep people from risking in a good way "manager parts" but help to negotiate life in the world. The desires propel people into what is called "firefighter behaviors" that while the intention is to put the fire out they damage the trust in the system that the Self offers.

Recently when I went through a very difficult time of internal fears and doubts that left me depressed then more recently experienced a jettison of hypomania which I now see as the "desire to do it all now"m I became convinced that these are two sides of the real enemy of internal peace and sowing peace in all relationships as an act of righteousness (James 3:18).

Recognizing and distinguishing between multiple parts that hold hurt, wounds, trauma, love, care is the first order of business in attaining to healthy perspectives of all parts.  Listening to their story without fear of getting lost in the story and listening to the story without the desire for gain through impression others with the story invite the system into a peaceful place where Self in all its light helps lighten the burden of the part.

Opening parts to the experience of Self is part of the healing work.  When you are so depressed that you cannot see that no one can help you see that.  Somewhere deep inside is a seed of redemption that once "tapped" can spring forth into healing.  I have come to believe that their is a seed of redemption infall of us that needs to be "tripped". (The Biblical parallel: "You has he (God) quickened who were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1).  This is why redemption is both internal and external.  It is not external in that tit is done to you without your involvement but it is external in that their needs to happen in you something that ignites the spark of hope.

For me it was a moment of dusk perhaps figuratively how I was feeling:  like I was a the end of my days.  When i saw the picture below: