Violence in the Land

 

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.  He hates those who love violence.  Psalm 11:5

The death of George Floyd while in the custody of policeman Derek Chauvin ignited a countrywide firestorm of protests, some erupting into rioting, looting, and injury.  The flood of blaming from both sides of another polarizing event is deafening!  Some law enforcement camps are circling the wagons.  Outraged citizens are calling for heads to roll.  Politicians are pandering, news-cycle junkies and pundits are both working the talking points to death.  Meanwhile, the now-fired former police officer is sitting in a maximum security cell, charged with 3^rd degree murder, and manslaughter, with a first-appearance to answer the charges scheduled next week.   

It is entirely understandable that a community backlash would/should follow such an horrific end to a man’s life.  Moral legal action is demanded to sort out not only what happened, but to seek justice when a law enforcement official (with 3 backup officers on the scene) chooses to exert force, apparently sufficient to kill, particularly when the apprehended man is secured and begging for mercy.  Society that quietly looks the other way from such brutality is hideously inhumane.

From a personal viewpoint, I cannot get my mind to move past the thought that, for George Floyd and Derek Chauvin, this was a family matter; they were brothers.   That statement alone is liable to get me a dozen or more are you crazy responses, so let me explain.  Scripture tells us we come from a common ancestor, named Eve.  Even for the less Biblically-based among us, current science proclaims her name was Lucy, or L.U.C.A., (Last Universal Common Ancestor).[1]  That ultimately means George Floyd and Derek Chauvin are of the same family, which makes them both part of the same race, human!  This was a family matter…even if neither of them knew it!

It’s important to note that the very first murder recorded in Scripture is perpetrated by the first human to be born on earth (God had put Cain’s parents together by hand; they never saw the inside of a neo-natal unit).  Cain and Abel were instructed what kind of offering to bring to give thanks to God for their lives.  Abel listened and was obedient, Cain didn’t and wasn’t[2].  When God called him on his poor choice, Cain got ticked, and since he knew he couldn’t wrestle with God and come out on top, he took his anger out on his brother with a rock to the head.  And brothers have been using rocks, clubs, guns, spears, swords and smart bombs to carry on the family tradition ever since!  That is bad enough; but, enter the rioters and looters.  In a kind of Cain profile some are just drawn by the lure of the mob.  Somehow it is a safe place to take revenge for injustice.  And people do love a safe place from which to proclaim (self) righteously their anger.  And, if being anonymous in a mob, you can get away with smashing a store window, you might as well take that 72” smart TV home too.  We have a word to describe that…cowardice!

In the end we all play Cain’s card – it’s somebody else’s fault.  After all, Cain learned it best from his and his brother’s parents.  When they sinned, God demanded an accounting; here’s how that played out:

Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.  I was afraid because I was naked.”  “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked.  “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”  Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”  “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”  Genesis 3:9-13

Deflect, blame someone else, hide, don’t show your face.  It’s the blame game.  Only, in the case of George Floyd, it wasn’t much of a game.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, our hearts and souls are pierced once again at the madness of violence we have in our land.  There seems to be no end of anger and fingers pointing at each other; we play the blame game with amazing and continually increasing disastrous effects.  And then we go to church on Sunday to worship the goodness of the Prince of Peace.  You cannot be pleased with your children and our unfaithful, brutal ways.  May our hearts be pierced with your love; may it extend to our brothers.

For You Today

Brutality & revenge; when have two wrongs EVER made right?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on Psalm 11:5 see The Examined Life and Collapsed Foundations

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[1] Meet LUCA, the Ancestor of All Living Things, New York Times article

[2] See Genesis 4

It's Not My Fault

[1]

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”  “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.  “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.  God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”  “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.  “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”  The woman was convinced.  She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her.  So she took some of the fruit and ate it.  Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.  At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness.  So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.  When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden.  So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.  Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid.  I was afraid because I was naked.”  “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked.  “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”  Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”  “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”  Genesis 3:1-13^(NLT)

Fight or flight are not the only weapons of response to attack in the human arsenal; there is always deflect which is what Adam and Eve did first.  Adam deflected guilt for his sin towards Eve; Eve kicked the can down the road to the serpent.  After all, why suffer accountability when you can blame someone else?  And so it goes!

Humans, even little humans caught with their pudgy little hands in the cookie jar, have always denied responsibility.  It is a mark of insecurity and immaturity to always find an excuse for what we have done  wrong.  Just like politicians put spin on an event in order to cast themselves as if standing on higher ground, so all people play that game in everyday life.

Even our legal system, based upon Judeo-Christian values and ancient ethical systems of justice, has developed such intricacies of proving/disavowing guilt or innocence over the past two centuries, the loopholes make it almost impossible to arrive at reasonable doubt or outright acquittal any more.  We are not only a society of don’t ask-don’t tell, we have become a people of vague shadow and nothing but questions.  The whole idea of absolute truth has become laughable in 21^st century culture.  Is it any wonder the Scriptures are held up to scrutiny by people who haven’t even read the Bible, much less thought deeply over its claims?  We, as a species, are working hard at letting ourselves off the hook with God by reason of mental disease or defect – somebody else dropped us on our collective head when we weren’t looking, so it’s not our fault; case dismissed!

But none of that excuses anything when it comes to our accountability before God.  Holy Scripture doesn’t stumble over that one:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Romans 3:23^(NLT)

For You Today

A Thought to Live By:

A person might begin to disbelieve that air exists, or is necessary for life.  That’s completely illogical, given the history of biological existance of every human and mamal ever to draw breath.  And neither does the strong conviction that oxygen is a myth change the reality that it will still fill your lungs and carry life through your body. 

In the same way, a person’s belief or disbelief in God, and that God has prior claims on our life, will mean nothing to the reality that He IS…and He DOES hold us accountable for the way we live.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com