Lovely work with the flowers
I really like this:
So God explained what he wanted. “We’re having a relationship, right? So you should bring me flowers once a week,” he said, “And remember to ask how my day was. Yeah, and I want to be monogamous, so stop eyeing up other gods. And on our anniversary? I’d like jewellry or chocolates. Or maybe a cute little fatted calf. And I want you to sit around and daydream about me, and write me poems.”
These rules were edited down and carved onto stone tablets, and became the ten commandments. And generally speaking, people did what God had asked. They brought flowers. They killed calves. They wrote songs and poems. And it was good. For a while.
There came a time when God realised something was missing. The flowers were lovely and all, but where was the romance? Where was the love? So God sent Jesus to talk to the people. “Guys,” said Jesus. “Listen, you’re doing great. Lovely work with the flowers. Fantastic. But, you know what? You’re missing the point. Routine is killing your relationship. It’s stale. You know what you gotta do? You gotta pay attention. Show the big guy some love.”
June 26th, 2003 at 11:09 am
And generally speaking, people did what God had asked. They brought flowers. They killed calves. They wrote songs and poems. And it was good. For a while.
What Old Testament is this person reading? it was so good that he sent them into the wilderness for 40 years almost immediately after giving them the 10 commandments; after they finally got to the promised land, he let them grow fallow (according to the judges); he finally appointed a king, then appointed a different king because the first one didn’t do things right. Then, the second king’s kids divorced each other and God drove them out of the promised land altogether. All along, he was sending prophets telling the people that they weren’t doing what he was asking.
What does God compare Israel to? A harlot. Hosea is God’s marriage counselor, not Jesus.
there’s more, but I feel I’ve overstayed my welcome.
June 26th, 2003 at 11:25 am
The reason why I like this is not because it is a biblical survey of the history of faith. I kind of like it because it communicates an interpretation of the relationship between God and his people in a fresh way.
Yes, it is simplistic, but it is not intended to be anything more than that in my view. And I find simple stories and interpretations valuable too, if only as a contrast to some of the more in depth discussions that we engage in.
June 26th, 2003 at 6:58 pm
Another story:
http://www.ireneQ.com/mt-archives/000281.php
June 27th, 2003 at 11:05 am
I dunno. I guess to me it just reinterprets the relationship through “rose-colored glasses.” (I read the whole story, not just the excerpt, btw) It’s like nostalgia for “the good old days.” You can simplify out the real message of God’s love: that it has been God who has all along been relentless in his passion for us while we have hardly ever responded in kind.
I like the picture God gives in the old testament of him finding Israel alone and naked, with no relatives to take care of her, and he elevates her far above her previous position.
To me, the story glosses over our human failings in the relationship. “Things just weren’t what they used to be.” Truthfully, they never were.
June 27th, 2003 at 12:12 pm
I, too, like the story - because it called me to look at the old Story in a new way. Not in one that agrees with everything in the story… but one that gives me “ahas” here and there.
Like Irene, I also did some creative writing after reading it.
November 26th, 2003 at 9:59 am
The Bible According to Ruth
In the beginning was God. After a few millenia God was bored and lonely, so he made the earth and everything, and made people so that he’d have someone to love. And it was fun watching them have their lives — sort of like the Sims. But people wandere…
March 16th, 2004 at 2:49 pm
During the Samuel Johnson days they had big men enjoying small talk; today we have small men enjoying big talk.