tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78053694238415029492024-02-20T05:20:47.141-05:00Jubilee Justice Faith and Justice notes from a patriotic, American, old, white, male, ChristianChiapas09http://www.blogger.com/profile/16153785119257336519noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-71393630320082807442021-09-24T07:01:00.006-04:002021-09-24T07:01:55.827-04:00Three recent thoughts <p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you noticed that... </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*After the Civil War in the 19th century, white Southern Senators used the filibuster to kill Reconstruction. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*In the early 20th century, Senators used it to block anti-lynching bills. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*In the Civil Rights Era, Senators used it to prevent the passage of desegregation and voting rights legislation for years.</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">*And in 2021 it is being used to block voting rights legislation. </span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do you think that there is a trend here?</span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The term “evangelical” has been stripped of all meaning, with the politicalization of the movement. This is a movement in which I was reared. It’s part of my DNA. I’m very proud of its history going back to the 19th century. The movement I see today is unrecognizable. I don’t see anything that reflects the teachings of Jesus. I don’t see anything that is consonant with the noble legacy of 19th century evangelical actors, which invariably took the side of those on the margins of society. Evangelicals didn’t always get it right. But if you look at their overall record, it was remarkable. That’s why I find the term “Christian right” deeply offensive. I don’t find anything Christian in the actions and agenda of the religious right."
</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">---Randall Balmer, Evangelical Leader and professor of Religion at Dartmouth College.</span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"January 6 was the greatest threat to our democracy since the assault on Ft. Sumpter. "
</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">--Jon Meacham, Christian writer and professor of Presidential History at Vanderbilt University.</span></p><div><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18.75px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
</h3></div>Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-23569673338984623342021-07-06T09:21:00.005-04:002021-07-10T07:56:27.764-04:00Donald Trump's Record of Successes and Failures<p></p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6A6mHwzRVkqHSzudUDTw5rfbkzn__Dx86zVsVw0Bql03z0d0OIBGer2pg3VvJXriL2wuKLFqjAgYQ56Z-Clo7rAb4QKmV0VT09jKCJOUcAqb-ubuGtiCZJ1zGPv1B5Dm8tgTdFGJD_W1M/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6A6mHwzRVkqHSzudUDTw5rfbkzn__Dx86zVsVw0Bql03z0d0OIBGer2pg3VvJXriL2wuKLFqjAgYQ56Z-Clo7rAb4QKmV0VT09jKCJOUcAqb-ubuGtiCZJ1zGPv1B5Dm8tgTdFGJD_W1M/w267-h178/image.png" width="267" /></a></div><div>Dear friends, </div>Below is my list of some of Donald Trump's most famous wins and losses in several areas. I've added to it off and on for a while and it's still not exhaustive, but it was helpful to me to see a broader sweep of his career than what we get in the tiny bits and pieces of the daily news.
I’m obviously a bit biased in my findings, and I’m sure that a supporter could find a way to compile a far worse list for Joe Biden, but there is nothing included below that is not true. Some of my sources are listed at the bottom.
Be well,
Stan </span></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><br /><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s Business record:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Trump Taj Mahal, filed bankruptcy in 1991 </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Castle Hotel & Casino, filed bankruptcy in 1992</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Plaza Casino, filed bankruptcy in 1992 </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Plaza Hotel, filed bankruptcy in 1992</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Hotels and Casinos Resorts, filed bankruptcy in in 2004 </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Entertainment Resorts, filed bankruptcy in in 2009</span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s election record:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He lost the popular vote in 2016</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He lost the house in 2018</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He lost the Senate in 2020</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He lost the popular vote </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> the electoral college vote in 2020</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He lost forty lawsuits in court claiming that he won the 2020 election</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He was the only US president in history to be impeached twice</span></p></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s Administration Indictment record:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Paul Manafort (48/25 counts) </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Rick Gates (23 counts)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Roger Stone (7 counts)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Michael Cohen (1 count)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">George Papadopoulos (1 count)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Michael Flynn (1 count)</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Many other colleagues and cohorts (Russian spies, etc.) who were not technically a part of his administration</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">(It’s worth noting that the record of indictments for Barack Obama is zero.)</span></p></li></ul><h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 14pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s record of Lawsuits Claiming that he had won the 2020 election</span></h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Pennsylvania — 13 losses</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Nevada — 4 losses</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Georgia — 5 losses</span></h3></li></ul><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Michigan — 5 losses</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Arizona — 4 losses</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Wisconsin — 7 losses</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">New Mexico — one loss</span></h3></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><h3 dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Direct appeals to Supreme Court by GOP and Trump Campaign — 3 losses</span></h3></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Several Republican politicians, led by Rep. Mike Kelly</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton </span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Trump campaign </span></p></li></ul></ul><h3 dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.56; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 14pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s record of lawsuits during his four years as president</span></h3><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Wins - 59</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Losses - 200</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Ties - 0</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Place in history: Donald Trump’s Administration has lost more court cases than any other president in modern history. </span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 26pt; margin-top: 26pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Donald Trump’s record of organizations:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 26pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump University: Shut down by court order, 2011, final settlement of $25 million fine, 2018</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Foundation: Shut down by court order, Nov. 2019, for fraud</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Trump Organization: Still standing, but charged, in July, 2021, with 15 felony counts, including </span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">a scheme to defraud </span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">conspiracy</span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">grand larceny </span></p></li><li aria-level="2" dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 26pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #111111; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">falsifying business records. </span></p></li></ul></ul><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 26pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 26pt; text-align: center;"> *****</p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sources: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/20/trump-has-worst-record-supreme-court-any-modern-president/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/20/trump-has-worst-record-supreme-court-any-modern-president/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-pennsylvania-elections-us-supreme-court-5cc6aee8c328c7bb1d423244b979bcec" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-pennsylvania-elections-us-supreme-court-5cc6aee8c328c7bb1d423244b979bcec</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-lawsuits-election-results-2020-11" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-campaign-lawsuits-election-results-2020-11</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/524016-tired-of-winning-trumps-record-in-the-courts" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/524016-tired-of-winning-trumps-record-in-the-courts</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/all-of-the-trumpworld-figures-whove-been-arrested-indicted-or-jailed" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.thedailybeast.com/all-of-the-trumpworld-figures-whove-been-arrested-indicted-or-jailed</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://philadelphiabankruptcylawyers.com/how-often-has-donald-trump-declared-bankruptcy/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://philadelphiabankruptcylawyers.com/how-often-has-donald-trump-declared-bankruptcy/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-organization-charges-07-01-21/index.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-organization-charges-07-01-21/index.html</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/federal-court-approves-25-million-trump-university-settlement-n845181" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/federal-court-approves-25-million-trump-university-settlement-n845181</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-business-weisselberg-indictments/2021/07/01/e2b774a0-da15-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html?itid=lk_fullstory" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-business-weisselberg-indictments/2021/07/01/e2b774a0-da15-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html?itid=lk_fullstory</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.sierrasun.com/opinion/columns/law-review-trump-foundation-ordered-shut-down-trump-to-pay-2m-fine/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.sierrasun.com/opinion/columns/law-review-trump-foundation-ordered-shut-down-trump-to-pay-2m-fine/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/politics/trump-foundation-dissolve/index.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/politics/trump-foundation-dissolve/index.html</span></a></p><p><br /></p>Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-88608233132348751462021-02-24T08:18:00.008-05:002021-02-24T08:31:04.935-05:00<p> </p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; scroll-behavior: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;">February 22, 2021
Dear Friends, <br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.wsj.net/im-175073?width=1280&size=1.33333333" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="218" src="https://images.wsj.net/im-175073?width=1280&size=1.33333333" width="290" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I realize that some of you, my friends, still don't think there is a pandemic, and some of you think there is one but that it's not really serious, and some of you think the vaccine is a hoax by Anthony Fauci and a connection he has to some pharmaceutical company, and some of you think that the vaccines are real, but not effective, and some of you think other things I can't remember right now. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I don't want to insult anyone's beliefs. But for the rest of us who have seen first hand its deadly effects on loved ones and trust the judgment of the vast majority of infectious disease specialists around the world (not just Dr. Fauci), I encourage you to at least ACT like you believe it and honor our beliefs. Don't laugh at us, or jeer at us or call us names or send us nasty tweets,or Facebook posts or protest us. We don't deserve that. </span></div></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; scroll-behavior: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div data-speechify-sentence="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; scroll-behavior: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div data-speechify-sentence="" dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/05/08/us/politics/08virus-drugs/08virus-drugs-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="224" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/05/08/us/politics/08virus-drugs/08virus-drugs-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" width="315" /></a></div>Even if you don't believe in anything about the pandemic, please honor the integrity of those who do by following the CDC guidelines: use masks, hand sanitizers, social distancing and vaccines. It is not a major imposition. Your freedoms will not be taken away. It will not be the start of a socialist takeover of the world (a claim I have heard more than once). These practices are just safety precautions taken by people who trust the scientists and want to stay healthy. It's not bad people trying to hurt you or rob you of your first Amendment rights. I promise. </span></div></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thanks. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; scroll-behavior: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stan</span></div></div>Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-83505398049714076292021-02-18T12:58:00.000-05:002021-02-24T08:29:23.361-05:00A few Thoughts on Rush Limbaugh<p><a href="https://www.fccnn.com/incoming/6891738-e81sbn-Radio-show-host-Limbaugh-speaks-at-a-forum-hosted-by-the-Heritage-Foundation-in-Washington/alternates/BASE_LANDSCAPE/Radio%20show%20host%20Limbaugh%20speaks%20at%20a%20forum%20hosted%20by%20the%20Heritage%20Foundation%20in%20Washington" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://www.fccnn.com/incoming/6891738-e81sbn-Radio-show-host-Limbaugh-speaks-at-a-forum-hosted-by-the-Heritage-Foundation-in-Washington/alternates/BASE_LANDSCAPE/Radio%20show%20host%20Limbaugh%20speaks%20at%20a%20forum%20hosted%20by%20the%20Heritage%20Foundation%20in%20Washington" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">R</span>ush Limbaugh died this week. It’s not good to speak ill of
the dead, so I’ll speak on both sides. On the one hand, a lot of his
followers speak very highly of him. They always have and always will. But on the other,
he didn't mind speaking ill of the dead who he didn't like, like young black men who
were shot by white police officers with no apparent cause, or people who had
died of AIDS, or Muslims who died in Mosque bombings, or people who had died by
suicide, and many others.</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s also true that he considered himself to be a man of
deep faith. He recently told an interviewer that God had strengthened him through
the last days of his illness. That’s wonderful, but on the other hand, I remember him
criticizing Joe Biden for saying that God had strengthened him following the
death of his son. He called Biden’s comment a “crutch that liberal Democrat
politicians are allowed to lean on.” He often said that you couldn't be a Democrat and a believer at the same time. Because you can't logically believe in God and also believe that humans have an influence on global warming. So, all Democrats who claim to have faith must be lying. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He actually often called progressives and democrats "liars," and he frequently quoted things he claimed that they had said, and then said that they were outright lies. But on
the other hand, his critics have said that he seldom got through his daily talk
show without telling at least a handful of lies. I remember hearing him being
interviewed on the radio some years ago and being asked about that and he partially agreed. He said that he <i>had </i>to lie now and
then because “we are in a war of ideas” and that winning that war was more
important than telling the truth. But his friends all loved him, so I’ll let it
go.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He was actually considered to be one of the best at using what his
critics would call “lies,” as a way of riling up support for causes that he liked and politicians that he didn't. Those who know more about his influence than I do say that he was
one of the most important (and dishonest) voices in America in terms of driving white, nationalist, evangelical
Christians to believe that Democrats, progressives, immigrants, pluralists, feminists, liberal Christians, and others, were greedy, godless, hate-filled, socialists, and that they were out to destroy us, and that they had declared "war
on the Republic" (the title of a book his brother, David).</p><p class="MsoNormal">He frequently told the "Big Lie" that the evil Joe Biden-Deep State Socialists had stolen the country and the election and he was one of those responsible for convincing millions of Americans to come to washington and storm the Capitol to take the country back. Just before he died, he praised the Trump followers who had stormed the Capitol as “Patriots,” because they had heard him and followed him and tried to rescue their country. </p><p class="MsoNormal">On the other hand, many of those
“patriots” who got away, and are not now in jail, will probably praise him for speaking the kind of “truth”
that they can support, and giving them the strength to destroy the satanic evil
that was causing so much destruction and vote stealing. That’s quite a legacy. Not many
people could claim to have been that important to so many people.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s not good to speak ill of the dead. There are many who
are grieving over his loss. But I <i>will</i> say that I believe that the America of tomorrow will be a
just a <i>slight bit </i>more gentle place to live in now that there is one less
voice in the public media who is calling names, telling lies, insulting others, and encouraging
insurrections. And that will be a good thing. </p><p></p>Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-1237384045901902612016-06-30T16:58:00.003-04:002017-03-11T17:47:15.835-05:00Potential speakers at the Republican National Convention July 18-21, 2016<i>(Read to the bottom for those who said yes)</i><br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Normally-Likely Convention
Speakers who have said they will not speak</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">(most are not even attending)
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George
H.W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George
W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Mitt
Romney</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John
McCain</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John
Kasich</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen.
Lindsey Graham</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Kelly
Ayotte</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah Rep.
Mia Love </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">(rising
star, who would normally be clamoring for a chance to speak, will instead be on
vacation)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Jeff
Flake (said he won’t be at the convention <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2016/06/28/arizona-sen-jeff-flake-not-attending-rnc-n2184896" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">because he’ll be mowing his lawn</span></a>). (Really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chair of the Benghazi/Clinton investigation. (Taking
his family to the beach instead) (really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Wisconsin
Rep. Sean Duffy</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida
Rep. Carlos Curbelo</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Illinois
Gov. Bruce Rauner</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Senate
Majority Whip John Cornyn</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">New
York Rep. Elise Stefanik (who wrote the platform for the 2012 Convention)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Oklahoma
Rep. Steve Russell</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">North
Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson (another rising Republican star)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Nebraska
Sen. Ben Sasse</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah
Sen. Mike Lee (will have to come, because he is on the rules committee, but hates
Trump).</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">People
who refused to say whether they would speak if asked:</span></li>
</ul>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12.0pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mississippi
Sen. Roger Wicker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12.0pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oregon
Rep. Greg Walden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 13.0pt;">Invited
and likely to speak: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Chris
Christie</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen.
Jeff Sessions</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Trump
children Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://fusion.net/story/289090/ben-carson-donald-trump-surrogate/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">Dr. Ben Carson</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Donald
Trump (has suggested he could speak every night)</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sports figures invited (not
all have said yes)</span></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><b style="color: #1f0909;">· </b><span style="color: #1f0909;"> Boxer, Mike Tyson,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Bears coach, Mike Ditka,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· UFC fighter, Dana White</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Ex-Chicago Bears Coach, Mike Ditka</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Musical acts to Attract Young People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Eighties Rock Band, Poison</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Seventies Rock Band, Journey</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Sixties singer, Rick Springfield,</span></li>
</ul>
<b><br /></b>
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<div>
<b>Here's your chance</b><br />
If you would be interested in being invited to speak at the Convention, let me know. I have an in with the Donald. He and I go way back. (I understand I am being considered for Vice President, but don't let that out just yet until he wants to make it public.)<br />
<br />
Make a check out to "Stan G. Duncan" and send it to me and I'll see what I can do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Sources:</b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.dailywire.com/news/6968/heres-list-top-11-republicans-who-wont-speak-trump-aaron-bandler</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hardly-anybody-wants-to-speak-at-trumps-convention-224815</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://fusion.net/story/320155/donald-trump-rnc-tyson-poison/</span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-58195571223944603412016-06-30T16:58:00.002-04:002016-06-30T17:13:38.757-04:00Potential speakers at the Republican National Convention July 18-21, 2016<i>(Read to the bottom for those who said yes)</i><br />
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt;">Normally-Likely Convention Speakers who have said they will not speak</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt;">(most are not even attending)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George H.W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Mitt Romney</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John McCain</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John Kasich</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Lindsey Graham</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Kelly Ayotte</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah Rep. Mia Love </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">(rising star, who would normally be clamoring for a chance to speak, will instead be on vacation)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Jeff Flake (said he won’t be at the convention <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2016/06/28/arizona-sen-jeff-flake-not-attending-rnc-n2184896" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">because he’ll be mowing his lawn</span></a>). (Really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chair of the Benghazi/Clinton investigation. (Taking his family to the beach instead) (really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">New York Rep. Elise Stefanik (who wrote the platform for the 2012 Convention)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Oklahoma Rep. Steve Russell</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson (another rising Republican star)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah Sen. Mike Lee (will have to come, because he is on the rules committee, but hates Trump).</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida Sen. Marco Rubio</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">People who refused to say whether they would speak if asked:</span></li>
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<span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt;">Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt;">Oregon Rep. Greg Walden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 13pt;">Invited and likely to speak:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Chris Christie</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Jeff Sessions</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Trump children Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://fusion.net/story/289090/ben-carson-donald-trump-surrogate/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">Dr. Ben Carson</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Donald Trump (has suggested he could speak every night)</span></li>
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<li><b style="color: #1f0909;">· </b><span style="color: #1f0909;"> Boxer, Mike Tyson,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Bears coach, Mike Ditka,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· UFC fighter, Dana White</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Ex-Chicago Bears Coach, Mike Ditka</span></li>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt;">Musical acts to Attract Young People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Eighties Rock Band, Poison</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Seventies Rock Band, Journey</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Sixties singer, Rick Springfield,</span></li>
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<b>Here's your chance</b><br />
If you would be interested in being invited to speak at the Convention, let me know. I have an in with the Donald. He and I go way back. (I understand I am being considered for Vice President, but don't let that out just yet until he wants to make it public.)<br />
<br />
Make a check out to "Stan G. Duncan" and send it to me and I'll see what I can do.<br />
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<b>Sources:</b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.dailywire.com/news/6968/heres-list-top-11-republicans-who-wont-speak-trump-aaron-bandler</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hardly-anybody-wants-to-speak-at-trumps-convention-224815</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://fusion.net/story/320155/donald-trump-rnc-tyson-poison/</span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-22146102370001936852016-06-30T16:58:00.001-04:002016-06-30T17:30:24.284-04:00Potential speakers at the Republican National Convention July 18-21, 2016<i>(Read to the bottom for those who said yes)</i><br />
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Normally-Likely Convention
Speakers who have said they will not speak</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">(most are not even attending)
<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George
H.W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Pres. George
W. Bush</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Mitt
Romney</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John
McCain</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. John
Kasich</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen.
Lindsey Graham</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Kelly
Ayotte</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah Rep.
Mia Love </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">(rising
star, who would normally be clamoring for a chance to speak, will instead be on
vacation)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen. Jeff
Flake (said he won’t be at the convention <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2016/06/28/arizona-sen-jeff-flake-not-attending-rnc-n2184896" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">because he’ll be mowing his lawn</span></a>). (Really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chair of the Benghazi/Clinton investigation. (Taking
his family to the beach instead) (really)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Wisconsin
Rep. Sean Duffy</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida
Rep. Carlos Curbelo</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Illinois
Gov. Bruce Rauner</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Senate
Majority Whip John Cornyn</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">New
York Rep. Elise Stefanik (who wrote the platform for the 2012 Convention)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Oklahoma
Rep. Steve Russell</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">North
Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson (another rising Republican star)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Nebraska
Sen. Ben Sasse</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Utah
Sen. Mike Lee (will have to come, because he is on the rules committee, but hates
Trump).</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">People
who refused to say whether they would speak if asked:</span></li>
</ul>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12.0pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mississippi
Sen. Roger Wicker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "courier new"; font-size: 12.0pt;">o<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Oregon
Rep. Greg Walden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 13.0pt;">Invited
and likely to speak: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Gov. Chris
Christie</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Sen.
Jeff Sessions</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Trump
children Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://fusion.net/story/289090/ben-carson-donald-trump-surrogate/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #1f0909; text-decoration: none;">Dr. Ben Carson</span></a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909; font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">Donald
Trump (has suggested he could speak every night)</span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sports figures invited (not
all have said yes)</span></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><b style="color: #1f0909;">· </b><span style="color: #1f0909;"> Boxer, Mike Tyson,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Bears coach, Mike Ditka,</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Former Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· UFC fighter, Dana White</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Ex-Chicago Bears Coach, Mike Ditka</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
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<b><span style="color: #1f0909; font-size: 12.0pt;">Musical acts to Attract Young People<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Eighties Rock Band, Poison</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Seventies Rock Band, Journey</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1f0909;">· Sixties singer, Rick Springfield,</span></li>
</ul>
<b><br /></b>
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<div>
<b>Here's your chance</b><br />
If you would be interested in being invited to speak at the Convention, let me know. I have an in with the Donald. He and I go way back. (I understand I am being considered for Vice President, but don't let that out just yet until he wants to make it public.)<br />
<br />
Make a check out to "Stan G. Duncan" and send it to me and I'll see what I can do.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Sources:</b><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.dailywire.com/news/6968/heres-list-top-11-republicans-who-wont-speak-trump-aaron-bandler</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/hardly-anybody-wants-to-speak-at-trumps-convention-224815</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">http://fusion.net/story/320155/donald-trump-rnc-tyson-poison/</span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-2826958532227624382015-11-01T22:06:00.002-05:002015-11-01T22:09:32.120-05:00Pop Quiz<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636px;">Which statements in last week's debate were false and which were true?</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">(Winner gets to take moderator, Stan Duncan, to lunch)</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5636px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.5636px;">Ben Carson, when he said that he had no ties to Mannatech, a nutritional-supplement company that is frequently sued about fraudulent claims. He called the accusation that he had supported them and done promotional videos for them “total propaganda.”</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.5636px;">Donald Trump, when he said, “I was not at all critical” of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for his efforts to advance comprehensive immigration reform and widen the H-1B visa program.</span><span style="line-height: 17.5636px;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 17.5636px;">Carly Fiorina, when she claimed 92 percent of those who lost jobs in President Obama’s first term were women.</span><span style="line-height: 17.5636px;"> </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 17.5636px;">Marco Rubio, when he charged the media ignored evidence that Hillary Clinton was a “liar” at Benghazi hearing.</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="line-height: 17.5636px;">Write your comments below. We'd love to hear from you. </span></div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-84877427762594435992015-07-27T17:31:00.003-04:002015-07-28T10:43:23.494-04:00Thought for the day:<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">July 23, 2015, 3 dead, 7 hurt when gunman opens fire in Lafayette movie theater</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">July 16, 4 Marines killed in attacks on Chattanooga military facilities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">June 17, 2015, a mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">Two years and seven months since the gun massacre of 26 people, 20 of them children, in Newtown, Connecticut.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">Three years since the shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado where 12 were killed and 70 people injured</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.38;">Three years on August 5 since the killing of 6 people and wounding of 4 in a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin</span></li>
</ul>
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Congress has been unable to find any way to pass any law since for any of these shootings, to make Americans safer.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
By contrast,</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.38;">Jul 9, 2015 - Kathryn Steinle shot in San Francisco by an undocumented immigrant.</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.38;">In three weeks, the House of Representatives passed the
"Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act," which threatens to cut off
federal spending on community safety programs unless cities act to
protect our citizens from violent acts when perpetrated by immigrants. </span></li>
</ul>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-5770400668312446392015-07-25T13:48:00.001-04:002015-07-25T13:48:29.221-04:00So, What DID He Do on that Mountain?<b style="line-height: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John 6:1-21</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Proper 12/ Ordinary time 17, Year B<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I. Background<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vidimus.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/issue_15_2008_news23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vidimus.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/issue_15_2008_news23.jpg" height="176" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">he first thing that is
important to know about the feeding stories is how significant they were for Jesus
and the early church. The feedings are the only miracles that are shared in all
four Gospels, and two of them, John and Mark, have either a second feeding story
or a second version of the same story. So, either (a) both of them thought the
story was so important that they wanted to share it twice (which would attest
to its significance to the early church) or (b) Jesus did more feeding than
most of us had assumed (which would attest to its significance in the ministry
of Jesus). Either possibility testifies to its importance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John’s version of the story is
laden with political symbolism, some of which is apparent to “normal” readers
(whatever that means), and some are not. I’ll point out a few of the most
important, but John starts right at the very beginning dropping interesting
clues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Notice, for example, that he
begins with Jesus getting off of a boat at the Sea of Galilee. All of the four gospels
agree on this. But only John adds that it was also known as the Sea of “Tiberias.”
Why did he add that? One reason is that Tiberias was one of the most hated and
politically volatile cities in Palestine, and he wants the reader to take note
of that. It had been in existence for only a few short years. It was built by
Herod Antipas at the edge of the Sea of Galilee in the year 20 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">c.e.</span> (and recall that Jesus’ ministry
was around 30 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">c.e.</span>). It was built
to facilitate trade with the gentiles who populated the opposite side of the
Sea. What made it a hated name and avoided by many locals was that it was built
upon a local Jewish graveyard and was therefore considered unclean to </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">observant Jews</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">. Only people from outside
of Israel (and sellouts within Israel) would ever dare living there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second, in the short time between
its founding and the life of Jesus, it grew rapidly to become the largest city
in Israel, surpassing even Sepphoris, which Antipas had rebuilt from ruins and
enlarged just a few years earlier. This meant that in less than one generation,
tiny Israel grew to have three major cities (these two plus Jerusalem), two of
which were populated mainly by outsiders, and all demanding a steady supply of food
from the surrounding farms and villages. Their rapid growth put difficult demands
on the normal harvests in the region and contributed to an upswing in hunger around
them. This was also exacerbated by pro-city economic policies of Antipas, which
forced rural farmers to either give up some of their produce to feed the cities
or pay a tribute on what they did not give. So, the more crops they grew, the
more they had to pay in tribute to the powerful urban centers. They could lower
the tax by lowering their production, but they’d still have to pay a percentage
to the state, and then they’d have even less left over with which to feed their
families. So, they lost either way. Biblical scholar Obery Hendricks, describes
the economic life of first century farmers this way:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Most
peasant farmers had land holdings of less than six acres, of which on average
only 1.5 acres was available for cultivation, hardly enough to support a
family. That is, if they were fortunate enough to have saved their farms from
outright seizure by the Romans, or from dispossession for tax default, or from
the machinations of the Herodians and their cronies who, it is estimated, owned
one-half to two-thirds of the land in Galilee. To make ends meet, most farmers
either had to hire themselves out for wages to supplement their meager crops,
or go into debt, which was usually a worse alternative. Tenant farmers and
share-croppers often fared even worse, ending up in prison or enslaved by their
creditors.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When food production for the
average resident of Galilee was exported to the cities, it did two things.
First, it simply lowered the amount of fruits, vegetables, and grains that were
available to be consumed by the farmers and made the region grow incrementally
more hungry. Second, and more interestingly, when such large percentages of
grains were taken out of system, it made the prices of the remaining grains go
up. It’s the simple law of “supply and demand”: when there is more of something
the price goes down and when there is less of something it goes up. So, there
was less food to go around to eat and the food that was grown began to cost
more to purchase for the non-farm families who didn’t have direct access to it
themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In many ways this is a story
that could be told of many poor farmers in the world today. Following the
global economic “reforms” of the 1970s and ‘80s, much of the farming in poor
and developing countries of the global south was forcefully reoriented from
production for local consumption to production for exports. In some instances
they were pushed to sell larger and larger portions of their wheat or other
grains to middle people or the government which would then export it to the
wealthy (usually northern) countries. In some instances they would cease food
production altogether and instead grow cash crops like hemp, or cotton, or
coffee. In this activity, many people made (and still make) a lot of money, but
the same two principles that exacerbated hunger in ancient Israel held true here
as well: taking food off of the market meant that there was less of it, and
what remained went up in price for low-income non-farmers. So, over all, while some
people benefitted from globalization and the rise of the global “free” market,
by and large the poor farmers of the world became more poor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPOhEL91mYQ2J9Ry6f9q4Yb9WKNSy_W2GpuKv_eL4HmbyR8WrwO6QYditsMSxo6W6lxG1SEvUdzewWt0WcuLOOvTgGHE9914tO1fcWgE7jZXYq67UN2rgELJc_f-TbeHeYlWkIfYL_p3Q/s1600/Laura_James_Feeding_the_Five_Thousand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPOhEL91mYQ2J9Ry6f9q4Yb9WKNSy_W2GpuKv_eL4HmbyR8WrwO6QYditsMSxo6W6lxG1SEvUdzewWt0WcuLOOvTgGHE9914tO1fcWgE7jZXYq67UN2rgELJc_f-TbeHeYlWkIfYL_p3Q/s1600/Laura_James_Feeding_the_Five_Thousand.jpg" height="198" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the ancient farmers of
Israel were unable to pay the food tax, they did have access to a convenient
loan program from the large wealthy land owners to tide them over—but the
interest rates were often as high as fifty to sixty percent! With this precarious
combination of fees and loans, whenever there was a bad harvest either from
drought or unseasonable rains, many farmers would simply lose everything and
have to sell their animals, or their farms, and finally their <i>bodies</i> as slaves to their creditors.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
High rates of interest were one of the key tools used for creating poverty and
debt slavery in the ancient world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This too has a contemporary
parallel. Leaders of poor and developing countries in the global south took out
huge loans in the 1970s from banks in the north, under the advice that they would
make enough in export sales back to the north again to eventually pay back the
loans and become “First World” countries. However, in the eighties, two things came
together at the same time that destroyed that possibility. First, the wealthy
countries of the global north fell into a recession and cut back on purchases
of the products that the poor countries were trying to sell to raise money to
pay back the loans. And that drove the prices of their products downward,
severely cutting back on their ability make payments on the loans. Second (partly
because of the recession and partly because of the US Federal Reserve tightening
credit), the interest on their loans went up. So, while the <i>costs</i> for their loans (the interest) was
going up, their <i>income</i> with which to
pay on them was going down. Poor countries fell into an economic abyss from
which many have still not quite recovered. Latin America called the eighties
the “Lost Decade,” but the nineties were nothing to write home about. To keep the
countries paying on their loans, the wealthy and powerful countries, and the
multi-lateral banks that they controlled (like the World Bank and the IMF), forced
them into draconian, belt tightening, austerity programs that cut things like health
care, education and price supports for the poor. It caused so much suffering that
many people of faith and conscience believed them to be a modern version of
slavery. Tens of millions of people lost their jobs and their livelihoods (not
to mention all of the merchants and services around them who no longer had
customers), driving unimaginable numbers of people into hunger, poverty and in
many cases outright starvation. All of which is ominously reminiscent of the
time of Nehemiah, when debts grew so large that people had to sell their
children to pay them. To pay our creditors, they said, “we are forcing our sons
and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we
are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.” In Mexico, and
Central America, millions of those who fled north to the US in the nineties did
so in part as a response to the economic cutbacks imposed upon their countries
that devastated their local communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the US following the
2007-9 recession this same philosophy was used to cripple state economies in
order to “save” them. The ideology that cutting salaries, pensions, benefits,
social services and jobs to pay off loans would somehow result in growth was imposed
on state and local governments in the US and also the poorer countries of
southern Europe. The belief was that if
you can just fire enough people and cut enough salaries, pensions and benefits,
and cause enough suffering and hunger and misery, then it will miraculously
lift the economy and promote business and trade. Today, many, perhaps most,
economists believe that one of the reasons why our recession lasted as long as
it did and rebounded as poorly as it did was because of the state and local
governments took this path off cutting, rather than stimulating, their way to
“growth.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This policy is not totally
wrong in the long, long, long, long, long, term, perhaps, but in the short term
(twenty to thirty years) the reverse has nearly always happened. In the
developing world cuts of the eighties, it took more than twenty years of brutal,
painful human suffering before the economies began to claw their way back to
some semblance of economic health. The problem with this ideology is that when
people’s incomes and salaries are cut, they pay less in income and sales taxes
and the government’s income actually goes down (not up) and its deficit increases,
resulting in the “need” for more and more rounds of cuts. It was and is a
downward spiral that almost always ends badly. Like the US states, the poor
countries stricken by this policy in the eighties and nineties (and countries
like Greece today), were forced into massive cuts and firings and that policy
has been a major drag on the global economy its recovery from the recession. In
Europe the horrific cuts in social services and livelihoods drove Greece into
such poverty that it will take generations before they reach anything roughly
resembling economic and social health.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The demands for cuts in personnel and social spending made to Greece by the
European Union in July 2015 were so extreme that even the usually bloodless number
crunchers in the IMF protested that they would cripple the Greek economy and make
their debts unpayable (and their people suffer) for over thirty years before
they could be paid back.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While the details of these contemporary
examples are different than those of first century Palestine, they are in many ways
similar. The demands imposed on poor farmers by Herod and wealthy land owners and
those imposed on poor nations by creditors and wealthy nations, both have a
familiar ring to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">II.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ll of this background is
tied closely to the feeding story and is related to why the author of the
Gospel of John wanted you to know that this took place close to the hated city
of Tiberias. Have you ever wondered why it was that so often when Jesus was in
the country side he was swarmed by great crowds of people? Where did they come
from? When he is in the towns, you may not see them by the thousands, but there
are still hoards flocking after him. Even allowing for some exaggeration from
the Gospel writers, it still is an interesting phenomenon. Where did they come
from? These stories were for the most part in the middle of the day. Don’t they
have jobs?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The answer is “no.” These
were people who were driven off of their land by poverty and hunger and
oppression by their rulers. They often were not able to pay the demanded
tribute and feed themselves at the same time and got desperately into debt and
finally lost their farms.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Some in fact moved back onto the farms they once owned as indebted workers;
many others just became homeless, beggars, prostitutes, thieves, and day
laborers. When they heard of Jesus, teaching, healing and feeding in the region
or neighborhood they flocked to see him. And when he got out of the boat at the
beginning of our story, and the crowds saw him, they clamored for him, wanting
to see or experience some of the healing signs that they had heard were taking place
through him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Another seemingly innocuous comment
from John is that all of this took place near the Passover. There is nothing in
the story as it stands that otherwise refers to, or relates to, the Passover,
so why did he think it was important to mention that here? Part of it was likely
because he wants the reader to think of
Jesus as a new Moses, who you will recall also delivered bread (manna) from a
mountain (Exod. 16:4, cf. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John 6:31-33). But it is also likely that John </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">once again wants us to feel
the politically charged atmosphere surrounding this event. In a fairly
consistent way, whenever John makes note of an event being close to a </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jewish festival, he has
Jesus present some kind of controversial teaching that subverts and undermines
a traditional teaching that is held by the religious authorities, and the
result is often a confrontation with those authorities (cf. 1:13ff; 7:2ff;
10:22ff; 12:1ff)”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
While in this instance the religious authorities do not show up until <i>after</i> the feeding story, the provocative,
confrontational nature of the feeding is nonetheless clear here as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">III. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">H</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ere is where the story begins
to get interesting (I bet you thought it was interesting already). When Jesus and
his disciples cross over the Sea of Tiberius, and settle down on a high hill to
rest, he sees a large crowd running up the hill toward them. He leans over to
Philip and asks, “Where can we go to buy enough bread to feed these people?” John
says that he already knew the answer to that question when he asked it, but he asked
it anyway to see what Philip would say (v. 6). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It might be helpful to point
out here that—at least in the hands of John, the gospel writer—these conversations
with the disciples are understood to be conversations also with the church. John
preserves them or crafts them and broadens them, in ways that let them speak to
the critical issues of his own church community, and not just to one individual
on the side of a lake in ancient Israel. So, when we overhear these exchanges
thousands of years later, we too should feel ourselves being asked the same
questions asked of Philip and the others, “where are we going to get the food
to feed these people?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Philip answers him with the
straightforward economic reality: No place. Nowhere. It’s impossible. To feed
these people, he says, would take six months of wages, and nobody—certainly not
the rag tag crowd that were following Jesus—had that kind of money lying around.
Even if Judas had not been skimming off donations from the till,<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
they still couldn’t do it. Six months wages (or eight or ten, depending on the
various translations) are actually just guesses. In the Greek it says two
hundred denarii. A denarius was a Roman coin equal to about one day’s wage for
a desperately poor common laborer. Philip is saying it would take two hundred days’
worth of work to feed these people (though the value of money at the time was
falling because the size of the work force was growing). His precision is
interesting. Why not be more general as numbers often are in the Bible? My
hunch is that in addition to just simply saying that this is a big chunk of
change, it is likely that Philip is also expressing his exasperation about the
outrageousness of the decline in the value of money in his day, and the rapid
escalation in prices.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
He is probably making a statement about the impossibility of buying food to
live on in an age of stagnating wages and inflationary prices. And if that is
what he was doing, he was certainly correct. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OzRBWiULG6BkvW66eg386vMspvXq1XSaAoyOJBqUyl3m5NmlCxFMIqrwMQpUgM7WMT5mEiFCIBFv60wHf8XWYUMyhTRwQtCrxbjgQNqIMAz_6aXl4ikZ1P9ojJusAm2zWnBJFQwOm2A/s1600/loaves+and+fishes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OzRBWiULG6BkvW66eg386vMspvXq1XSaAoyOJBqUyl3m5NmlCxFMIqrwMQpUgM7WMT5mEiFCIBFv60wHf8XWYUMyhTRwQtCrxbjgQNqIMAz_6aXl4ikZ1P9ojJusAm2zWnBJFQwOm2A/s1600/loaves+and+fishes.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As an aside, I also find it
interesting that Jesus asked the “where” question, “<i>Where</i> are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” But Philip only
hears a “how much” question: “How much will it cost to buy bread for these
people to eat?” Jesus’ question assumes that they <i>will</i> buy bread, and <i>can</i>
buy bread, but Philip’s answer makes it clear that he disagrees. He thinks they
<i>can’t</i> buy that much bread, no matter <i>where</i> the late-night bakery is located. Philip
is talking in simple economic terms but Jesus is talking about something larger.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Before Jesus could say
anything, Andrew, Peter’s brother—also sounding exasperated and futile—says, “Well,
we got this boy here, who has some fish and bread.” It’s not clear in English,
but his choice of words indicates that he also thinks this is a lost cause. The
words for “boy” (<i>paidárion</i>) and
“fish” (<i>opsarion</i> )<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
are diminutive, that is, a “<i>small</i>
boy” and a “<i>small</i> amount of fish.”
Also, the use of the term “barley” loaves has a negative connotation to it because
only the very poor and the very desperate would lower themselves to tasting this
tasteless bread. Barley was what you fed to farm animals. Translated into more
clear English, he’s saying something like, “We got <i>bubkes</i> here, zilch, <i>nada</i>.
Our resources are zero, the economy has gone to Hades, and just to make that perfectly
clear, look at what we’ve got for a meal: a little kid with a couple of fish
and some really, really, smelly barley, which tastes awful, and I’m not going
there.” (Maybe not a word-for-word translation, but you get the point.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus responds to this in a
very odd way, but before we get to it, let me say what Jesus did <i>not</i> do. He did <i>not</i> offer communion. That is, when he took the loaves, broke them,
gave thanks, and gave them…, he was not imitating some form of pre-communion,
even though the Gospel writers, writing many years later, certainly had that in
mind, and even though approximately 487.09 gazillion preachers (more or less)
have later said he did. Whatever else he was thinking of up there on the
mountain, it is all but one hundred percent certain that Jesus did not have the
Celebration of Holy Eucharist on his mind while he was breaking bread and
handing it out to hungry people. If he did, what would have been the point? The
crowd that gathered there on that day would have had no idea what he was
talking about. He could not have been trying to do some symbolism to tens of
thousands of strangers of an event that had not even happened yet. Almost every
Bible scholar on the planet (with the possible exception of my pet squirrel,
but his credentials are a little thin) believes that the Gospel writers
retrofitted that theology back into the actions of Jesus later because that was
what <i>they</i> were thinking about, not
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">IV.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">S</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">o, with that out of the way,
what <i>did</i> Jesus do? If the account can
be accepted (and of course, that always carries some degree of conjecture), he
was looking out onto a sea of faces, all poor and almost all hungry. They
represented a wide swath of the economic and social bottom of Israelite society
of the day. They were probably far more than 5,000 people, because in those
days they only counted men, not women and not children. So a good guess would
be at least ten thousand, perhaps as many as <i>twenty</i>. Again, this is if the crowd estimates of John and the
others can be accepted, but by any accounting this was an incredible number of
people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Look again at the four acts
described before the actual feeding: he “took,” “gave thanks,”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
“broke,” and “gave.” While these probably are <i>not</i> images that prophesy upcoming Holy Communion, they <i>are</i> images that hearken back to
traditional Hebrew gestures of a gracious host welcoming guests to his banquet
table (except that Jesus’ guest list was a bit larger than that of most of us).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Think about the first two
words, “took” and “blessed.” These are welcoming acts, and in a typical first
century Jewish family, these are the acts of <i>hosting</i>. They bring you into the family. The last two, “broke” and
“gave” are acts of <i>serving</i> and they
are acts done usually by a slave (or worse: a wife). Notice too that before
Jesus either welcomes or serves, he has everyone in the crowd “recline” (<i>anepeson</i>), which is the posture one
takes in a banquet, not an ordinary meal. To recline means that the host has to
lean down to serve you. It is also the posture that Jesus takes later in his
last supper, when he also serves. In doing this, Jesus, in a subtle, almost
radical, way has symbolically taken on the role of both master and slave,
husband and wife, teacher and student, and welcomes everyone to the table.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
When he does that, the participants almost certainly realized that something
very special was about to happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWdh67MMjcxUPdXHj46rv7VSo_9A6-Ozoe5PKGeXmnWko8FFRRUfYzWBbl1rZhPVmdG5JPm7puDdgZWCeWoja4dGSzo4wMoRZgcGTq7LnHkFmx2ahgKWA1MW274AHjDMxaKaA33C2b5A/s640/the+five+thousand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimWdh67MMjcxUPdXHj46rv7VSo_9A6-Ozoe5PKGeXmnWko8FFRRUfYzWBbl1rZhPVmdG5JPm7puDdgZWCeWoja4dGSzo4wMoRZgcGTq7LnHkFmx2ahgKWA1MW274AHjDMxaKaA33C2b5A/s640/the+five+thousand.jpg" height="115" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So far, he is doing two
things. First he is embodying the majestic vision of the “messianic banquet” of
the Hebrew prophets. And they, in turn, were envisioning the “Jubilee,” that great
age, heralded in Leviticus 25, when all of God’s creation, which has been
broken and disfigured by human corruption and greed, will be returned back to
the harmony and justice that God had originally intended. In the Jubilee, the
days of God’s final dispensation, a celebration of oneness and equality will break
out all over the land, and it will be symbolized by the one thing that almost
all poor people lacked: food. There will be a great and glorious banquet on the
mountain tops, which will be attended by all who can walk or crawl (and some
who can do neither). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; margin-left: 23.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; margin-left: 23.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On this mountain
the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> of hosts will make for
all peoples <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; margin-left: 23.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged
wines, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; margin-left: 23.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> of rich food filled with marrow, of
well-aged wines strained clear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; margin-left: 3.0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">— Isaiah 25:6<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Most significant for a
Christian interpretation of this act is that throughout his ministry, Jesus
many times—here included—acted as though he was <i>embodying</i> the vision of the banquet. He acted it out in his
behaviors with others and <i>embodied</i>
its salvific meaning. His expansive, sharing, welcoming style had in fact
garnered for him a reputation as a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and sinners” (Mt 11:19). It was considered a criticism by his
enemies, but to his supporters it was actually a beacon of what God intended
for the earth. He “welcomes sinners and <i>eats</i>
with them” (Luke 15:1–2) and in so doing he <i>becomes</i>
God’s magisterial welcome mat to sinners (which, we should remember, included
people who were sick, contagious, old, non-Jews, immigrants, criminals, slaves,
and women) to enter in and become a part of the true end for humanity, the
“kingdom” of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An important link to the events
of the Last Supper is that in that meal, not only was he pointing <i>backward</i> to this feeding story, but he
was also pointing <i>forward</i> to the
coming eschatological banquet. He said, “I will never again drink of this fruit
of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom”
(Matt. 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18; cf. Luke 22:28–30).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second, Jesus is also not
just symbolically <i>being</i> the new realm
of God embodied on earth, but he is also <i>modeling</i>
a way to create it. If your community is beginning to feel the long, slow rise of
hunger in America, then Jesus’ modeling of a way to address it may speak to you.
He once told his followers, “The Kingdom (or realm) of God is within you,” and
here is what that Realm looks like. Watch his actions: He holds up the little
boy and distributes his paltry offering in front of everyone, and suddenly
there is an abundance of food. One way of putting it is to say that what
happened in the various feeding stories was much less “magical” than they sound
in the preaching of most sermons, but far more “miraculous.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">V.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">t’s very likely that what
happened was something like this: Jesus took the little boy and set him in
front of the crowd and said, “Hey, hey, all of you. Listen up. Look up here,
focus, <i>focus</i>. Okay. Now I know that
all of you are very poor. All of you have felt like you have been caught up in
the economic crash that drove up the prices of food and drove down your income.
We all know that. And all of you are afraid that you don’t have enough even to
survive on your own and you’re afraid to spend anything. Now, I’m not going to
give you some long lecture about Keynesian economics and how major financial
powers need to step in and invest and spend and loan until the smaller folks can
get their faith and trust and security back. Rome may get around to something
like that one of these days, but who knows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Until then, we’re going to
try something else; something that might be a model for the government and
might work out better for you in the long run; something that might actually bring
in the Kingdom that I’ve been talking so much about. We may not have enough food
to go around individually, but in the aggregate, we can fix this problem. I’m going
to put this little kid out in front here—with his frankly dismal little offering—for
all of you to look at. He’s saying he is offering to give us everything he’s
got, and I want you to see that. And then I’m going to break up his smelly bread
and give thanks to God for it, and then start distributing it to all of you,
and then you will…well, I don’t know. I hope I know what you’re going to do,
but let’s see what happens after that. Alright? Got it? Don’t let me down. So now
bow your heads I’m going to pray” and he starts praying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And then, I think, as the
bits and pieces of food are handed down the aisle, one person starts to think
to himself, “Y’ know, the wife did make me this sandwich and packed me this thermos
of coffee, and I probably don’t need all of it, so I’ll break it in half and
pass it down with the barley as it comes handed down the aisle to me.” And then
the next guy says, “Well, I do have this banana that I forgot to check at the
gate when I came in, and I don’t need all of it,” so he breaks it in half and
passes it down. And then there’s the guy who picked up the box of Oreos at the
Seven Eleven that morning on the way out of town to the rally. And the one who
won the turkey at the meat raffle at the Grange meeting last night. And the one
who remembers he still has a piece of that fruit cake left over from the office
party a couple of years ago that never went bad. And so on, all down the line,
until all the loaves and fishes had been passed around and the disciples
gathered up the scraps and found <i>twelve
baskets</i> full of leftovers and snacks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 14.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Goodness. Now that would be
a miracle!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> The list is probably
slightly exaggerated, but close enough to make the point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., <i>The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the
True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted</i>
(Doubleday, 2006) p.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Exod. 23:6–13; Lev. 25; Deut.
15; cf. 2 Kings 8:1–6; Neh. 5. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> It would take far too much
space to develop this theme, but it is essentially true that until relatively
recently (the Reagan/Thatcher administrations), it was considered basic “Econ
101” that you spend money during a recession because the economy needs more
money and you paid it back during boom times because then the economy <i>has</i> more money. The idea of cutting
spending when the economy is in recession and desperately needs money to
survive is a relatively new notion and somewhat like bleeding a hemophiliac and
expecting it to make him get well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> “The IMF position on Greece
– explained, <i>The Guardian</i> (</span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/jul/15/the-imf-position-on-greece-explained"><span style="color: black; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/jul/15/the-imf-position-on-greece-explained</span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">), retrieved July 22, 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> See Amy Jill-Levine,
“Visions of Kingdoms” <i>The Oxford History
of the Biblical World</i>, Ed. Michael D. Coogan (Oxford University Press:
1998), p. 364.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> “Jesus Doesn’t Use IVR!”, <i>Homiletics</i>, vol. 18, no. 4, July 2006,
pp. 41-46.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> John 12:6, “…he kept the
common purse and used to steal what was put into it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Denarius (from the Latin <i>dēnī</i>, “containing ten”) was a silver coin
originally minted as the value of ten asses. However, during the reign of
Caesar Augustus (63 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">bce</span> –14 <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ce)</span>, it had steadily declined in value
to where, by the time of the ministry of Jesus, it had shrunk to nearly half
its original size and purchasing value in asses. Unsurprisingly, in Israel all
of the people forced to work on the massive government jobs were paid the same
salaries decade after decade, even as the value of the currency was falling.
Other references to denarii in the Gospels: Matthew 20:1-2; John 6:5-7; John
6:5-7; Luke 10:33-35; and John 12:4-6.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> In fact, the Louw/Nida <i>Greek-English Lexicon</i> translates it as a
fish “Tidbit.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Actually the Synoptics say
“blessed” (</span><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">euloge</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">̄</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">sen</span></i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">) and</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> John’s Gospel says “gave thanks” (</span><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">euchariste</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Tahoma",sans-serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">̄</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">sas</span></i><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">)</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">, but the difference is not great enough for our purposes here to
quibble. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/TheologyBibleEconomics/Bible&Justice%20Book/AAAEconomicJusticeLectionary/B.Prop.12.Feeding%20Stories/John%206-Final%20-%20Recovered.docx#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> In the words of John Dominic
Crossan, “Long before he was the ‘host,’ he was the hostess.” <i>The Historical Jesus: The Life of a
Mediterranean Jewish Peasant </i>(HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), p. 404.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-41745345656189626872015-07-01T13:28:00.000-04:002015-07-01T16:54:53.395-04:00I’m a Christian, Therefore I Support Same-Sex Marriage<br />
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<a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-01-1435781644-9557938-Obergefell_v._Hodges_Decision_Announced_at_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_June_26_20151.jpg" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088c3; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="2015-07-01-1435781644-9557938-Obergefell_v._Hodges_Decision_Announced_at_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_June_26_20151.jpg" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-01-1435781644-9557938-Obergefell_v._Hodges_Decision_Announced_at_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States_June_26_20151-thumb.jpg" height="239" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="570" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">Crowd assembled in front of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC on Friday, June 26, 2015<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(commons.wikimedia.org Matt Popovich)</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">L</span><span style="font-size: 15px;">ast week, in a landmark opinion, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples would be allowed to marry in all fifty states. And that banning them would violate the 14th Amendment of the federal Constitution. It was a historic victory for gay rights advocates, and immediately there was both dancing in the streets and weddings in the chapels.</span></div>
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However, before the digital ink was dry on the press releases, a chorus of protests rose up by those who opposed the decision, mainly from evangelical Christians. Some of the comments were strongly worded and ominous. Many of them, like TV evangelist, Pat Robertson, said that because of this decision, there will be a national wave of persecutions of Christians. Christians will now be hunted down and raped by mobs of gay people, he said. They will be "the victims of vicious, vicious attacks," just like the angels who visited Sodom were nearly raped by "virulent homosexuals." Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, told Fox News that the Supreme Court has knowingly chosen to reject biblical truths and endorsed sin instead. "This court is endorsing sin," he said, "That's what homosexuality is--a sin against God...I believe God could bring judgment upon America." California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie told his flock that the decision was an "attack on the Bible," a sign of the end times coming, and that dire "Bible prophecies are being fulfilled before our very eyes." And the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, of the New Season Christian Worship Center, says the decision "serves as a de facto and legal catalyst for the marginalization of Americans who embrace a biblical worldview."</div>
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When I hear of my brothers and sisters in the faith protesting full equality for gay people in the name of the Bible, it breaks my heart. It reminds me of that fake booklet that was going around a few years ago. On the cover were the words, "Open This to Read Everything Jesus Ever said About Homosexuality."</div>
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And, of course, if you opened it up, it was blank, absolutely blank.</div>
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It's true. Jesus never said a single word about gays or lesbians or same-sex marriage, or any of the other social issues that so many people seem to be possessed with fighting today.</div>
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There are, of course, other places in the Bible that talk about various forms of same-gender coupling. The Apostle Paul, for example, in one of his letters, condemned a particularly horrendous practice in ancient Rome where an older rich male would take in a young boy and have him castrated and then use him as a sex toy. Well, I don't think gay marriage advocates would approve of that either.</div>
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And then there are the famous passages in Leviticus 18 and 20, that are often used by people to excoriate gays. Chapter 18 says that it is an "abomination" if a man "lies" with someone who is "of his own flesh," or neighbors, or animals, or another man. Then chapter 20 says that if a male is caught doing any of those things, then all of them--men, women, and the pet dog--should all be taken to the edge of town and killed, some by fire, some with rocks. Um, in our most intense religious moments, I don't think most of us would want to enact those biblical provisions into law.</div>
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There are two or three other passages (that's right, only two or three out of 31,173) that deal even remotely with anything we could call homosexuality, but even if every single one was an outright, clear, condemnation of gay rights or gay marriage, it still seems hard to argue that this issue has any real importance in the Bible. Until people started tediously scouring through the texts looking for those random verses that might prove their conviction that gays were sinful, I don't think anyone had ever given it any thought. In fact, a quick perusal of my eighteenth and nineteenth century commentaries on these hot button verses shows nothing. No one, until recently, ever thought that the Bible had any stance on the subject. No one tried to dig out those verses to prove that the Bible was opposed to gay rights or gay "lifestyle" or gay marriage.</div>
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Now, it's not as though Jesus didn't have strong opinions on other things. He railed against people who were wealthy or powerful, or who oppressed the poor, the sick and the weak. And more. But he never said a word about the two retired women in a church I used to serve who met playing bridge and fell in love and then wanted to seal their love in holy matrimony.</div>
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He talked a lot about welcoming in those who were --as we might say today--"marginalized," that is, foreigners, lepers, the sick, the poor, and even women (men were not supposed to talk to women, though Jesus often did). But he never said anything about two young men who meet in college and fall in love but can never tell anyone because their church has told them that their love was a sin.</div>
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Jesus' sense of radical openness to all kinds of people was very controversial in his day and unfortunately it still is today. He told us to go out into the highways and byways and bring in the kinds of people (that most of us would not want to have in our family) and to offer them a seat at our table. In fact, that attitude of his was probably one of the things that got him killed. And following in his footsteps today isn't easy.</div>
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But I'm not a Christian because what Jesus said was easy. I'm a Christian because I've been convicted that what he said was true.</div>
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We hear Pat Robertson, or Franklin Graham, or many others, call for a constitutional amendment to deny the Supreme Court the authority to make rulings on social issues. They say it's right and just (and should be legal) to exclude whole groups of people from ever getting married.</div>
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I don't know where they're going with that, but it makes me say, I'm going with Jesus</div>
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When someone like Donald Trump says that two men getting married violates the meaning of traditional marriage, but his own three wives and multiple affairs does not, I'm going with Jesus.</div>
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When I hear politicians--most of whom are either Christians or at least religious--say that it's legal for Brittney Spears (remember her?) to have a one-day marriage because she got drunk in a bar and woke up married, but that we need to re-write the constitution to protect us from the two gay guys who lived across the street from my mother and took care of her when she was old and sick, I think I'm going with Jesus.</div>
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When the chips are down and the going gets rough, and people are claiming that we need to protect ourselves from a dangerous wave of tolerance, and openness, and acceptance, I think I'm going with Jesus.</div>
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And I think that going with Jesus--that is, "being a Christian"--means that I really have to support same-sex marriage.</div>
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<a href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-01-1435782455-3816325-Sergebac7thcentury1.jpg" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0088c3; font-size: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="2015-07-01-1435782455-3816325-Sergebac7thcentury1.jpg" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-07-01-1435782455-3816325-Sergebac7thcentury1-thumb.jpg" height="303" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="452" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saints Sergius and Bacchus, 7th Century Christians. Thought by Yale historian John Boswell to be an example of an early Christian same-sex union (with Jesus in the center as officiant) reflective of tolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality.</em><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />(Public domain en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergius_and_Bacchus)</span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-82114854834387380352015-06-08T14:55:00.000-04:002015-06-15T11:25:01.746-04:00Natural and Unnatural Disasters in NepalStan G. Duncan<br />
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">N</span>epal
has been in the news recently and for horrific reasons. If you are a member of a religious
congregation or faith group, you have probably heard someone lift them up in
prayer over the last few weeks. Their situation is terrifyingly awful and will
probably stay that way for years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVofs1Q1p5A58MI1wyHF0SCwMEaDA84-5kScE6EpDZOe_A2djQdx101cYpkbxkb433qIfT9AgXGpAj9u1ZJSFl9cHCVTE7Q5OpTmAQhcW5GwqnGasrNAovr4M9us4iaq8qV-MLQ-NNZ2Z8/s1600/nepal-earthquake-471057700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVofs1Q1p5A58MI1wyHF0SCwMEaDA84-5kScE6EpDZOe_A2djQdx101cYpkbxkb433qIfT9AgXGpAj9u1ZJSFl9cHCVTE7Q5OpTmAQhcW5GwqnGasrNAovr4M9us4iaq8qV-MLQ-NNZ2Z8/s320/nepal-earthquake-471057700.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On April 15, Nepal was hit by one of the most devastating earthquakes
in modern history. The quake (and its aftermaths) took the lives of over 9,000
people and wounded or destroyed the homes and towns and livelihoods of millions
more. The numbers are so staggering they can easily sound like bumper stickers and
statistics instead of mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers and children, all
of whom deserved to live and love and have meaningful lives in the middle of some
already incredibly difficult conditions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here are some of those statistics: According to a study
recently released by the United Nations, twelve babies are born every hour in one
of the earthquake-impacted regions of Nepal that doesn’t have basic health
care.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Clean water, stable homes, basic roads, are all desperately threatened. Even
before the earthquake, Nepal was ranked 145th out of 187 countries on the United
Nations Human Development Index. In addition to having no ocean access, little arable
farmland, and few easily accessible natural resources, it also has been stricken
for decades with civil wars, palace coups, and corrupt leaders. All of which
make economic development daunting under the best of circumstances.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And now this.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAo-POX80TzNMdecTw0JahbjCdrTeSotQRfZDvmrVl90SdmAP1ZwzfX_i_SgxmOXbtXXbt-4NpDH3etGxvQKwNfGPGxSHHsTvUuaPNZDhKASkmQL_V_kX40x1pFlgJEak5dG6AJwbaCRW/s1600/2015_nepal_depremi_6-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAo-POX80TzNMdecTw0JahbjCdrTeSotQRfZDvmrVl90SdmAP1ZwzfX_i_SgxmOXbtXXbt-4NpDH3etGxvQKwNfGPGxSHHsTvUuaPNZDhKASkmQL_V_kX40x1pFlgJEak5dG6AJwbaCRW/s320/2015_nepal_depremi_6-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is one area of the crisis where you can help. It’s an
issue that few people realize and few in the media report on. That is, much of
Nepal’s “ordinary” attempts at economic development have been hindered for
decades by an enormous and growing external debt. <o:p></o:p></div>
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That sounds geeky and complicated, but here is the breakdown of what Nepal owes bank and oother lenders:</div>
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<li>$1,100 million to the World Bank;</li>
<li>$1,200 million to non-World Bank
multilateral agencies (such as the Asian Development Bank);</li>
<li>$250 million to governments
(like the US and others);</li>
<li>$64 million to the International
Monetary Fund </li>
<li><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">$1 million to private lenders. </span><u><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[2]</span></u></span></li>
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What that means in day-to-day money is that Nepal—again one
of the poorest countries in the world—pays nearly $600,000 in debt payments <i>every single day</i>.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a>
To put that in perspective, it's helpful to note that the US typically gives Nepal about $15 million a
year in foreign aid. Since the earthquake, we have increased that up to $25
million.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a>
That’s a lot of money. However, Nepal pays <i>back</i>,
out of the country (to the World Bank, the US, etc.) over $27 million<i> every</i> <i>six weeks</i>! Imagine how many roads, homes, and schools, could be
built with more than America’s entire annual donation every month and a half.
Even if you believe that some of that will be spent badly through corruption
and faulty financial systems (less likely during such a disaster, but not
impossible), it still would not be the absolute net loss to the economy and
growth that it is now.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span>ne organization that is in the forefront of lobbying the
IMF and others to cancel those debts is the faith-based Jubilee USA Network.
You may have read about them for their similar lobbying efforts in 2010, following
the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Haiti was also weighted down with external (and
ancient) debts that were nearly impossible to pay off before the hurricane, and
out of the question afterwards. And last year, during the outbreak of Ebola in West
Africa, Jubilee (and others) pushed successfully to have the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) establish a “Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust” (CCR), which
provides relief to poor countries after a natural disaster or health crisis. When
the trust was established, it was able to cancel $100 million in debt for
Ebola-impacted West African countries. Not bad work for a tiny organization of religious
people that survives off of individual donations and rummage sales from
churches, synagogues and mosques. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If Jubilee is successful this time around, Nepal is likely
to qualify for around $23 million from the IMF. That doesn’t sound like much, but
the IMF is a sort of “gatekeeper” for many of the other lending countries and agencies.
If the IMF cancels major debts of Nepal, then the US, Europe, the World Bank,
and regional development banks will follow suit. Hundreds of millions could be
freed up for <i>targeted and specific</i>
relief and development work. </div>
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Here are the guidelines for qualifying,
according to the IMF. The country must be suffering from a natural catastrophic
and:</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Have a per capita income below US$1,215;</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Have the disaster directly affect at least one
third of the population; and</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Have it destroy more than a quarter of the
country’s productive capacity…</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="text-indent: -0.25in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-themecolor: text1;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a></li>
</ul>
There are few things in the world that are more clear than
that poverty-stricken and earthquake beaten Nepal qualifies for debt relief. And the IMF is to be applauded for creating the special trust and putting Nepal's case at the front for consideration. But you can help. This is one of those rare
international tragedies where ordinary people can actually play a role. Here are three
things you can do.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40.5pt; text-indent: -40.5pt;">
<b>First</b>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wjUlNz9PamLMrjtOHpOnkJV6dZzEIplc7n9mrIiCwyQ/viewform">Click
here</a> to sign a petition to the IMF to encourage them to open the CCR trust to
Nepal. Nepal almost definitely qualifies for
that, but if the IMF receives a significant number of names on a petition, it will be a serious encouragement to them in their deliberations. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40.5pt; text-indent: -40.5pt;">
<b>Second</b>, <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/support-us">Click here</a> to make a donation
to the tremendous work that this small-but-aggressive, under-the-radar
organization does for economic justice and responsible lending and borrowing
all around the world. They survive off of small donations from individuals like
you and me and could use your support.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40.5pt; text-indent: -40.5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 40.5pt; text-indent: -40.5pt;">
<b>Third</b>, <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/get-involved.html">Click here</a> if you would
like to play a larger part: volunteer, host a speaker, start a chapter, etc. Do
you belong to a religious congregation or a social service organization that
would be interested in joining Jubilee as a group? Then <a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/faith/jubilee-congregations.html">Click here</a>
to go to their “Jubilee Congregation” page. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I know it sounds self-serving for me to say this, since I have
been with them since their founding fifteen years ago, but they are a solid,
responsible organization that has done amazing work over the years, and deserve
your help. The good people of places like Nepal deserve it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Stan Duncan</div>
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<i>(Stan Duncan is an economist and a pastor with the United Church of Christ. He is presently serving as interim pastor at the Four Corners Community Chapel in Cumberland, RI, and is on the national Board of Directors for the Jubilee USA Network)</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
“Nepal earthquake: IMF aid likely as toll reaches 3,200,” Jerin Mathew, April
27, 2015 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nepal-earthquake-imf-aid-likely-toll-reaches-3200-1498455).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
“External debt is a cancer to Nepal. Cancel it now!” Sunil Pant, May 15, 2015 (http://scroll.in/article/727811/external-debt-is-a-cancer-to-nepal-cancel-it-now).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Jubilee USA Network report, “Devastated Nepal Daily Pays $600,000 on Debt,” May
15, 2015 (http://www.jubileeusa.org/press/press-item/article/devastated-nepal-daily-pays-600000-on-debt.html).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
“U.S. Increases Funding to Nepal Earthquake Relief Effort,” Alfonso E. Lenhardt,
May 5th 2015 (http://blog.usaid.gov/2015/05/u-s-increases-funding-to-nepal-earthquake-relief-effort).
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Justice/Issues/Debt/Nepal.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
It goes on to add, “as estimated by early indications such as destroyed
structures and impact on key economic sectors and public institutions, or
caused damage deemed to exceed 100 percent of GDP.” <i>The Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust, </i>February 13, 2015,
pp. 1-2 (http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/pdf/ccr.pdf).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-35406001737022518762015-03-16T16:41:00.000-04:002015-03-17T19:41:21.983-04:00"Now You Go Behave"<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sermon notes and Suggestions on Jeremiah 31:31-34</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B, Revised Common
Lectionary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">his is a beautiful and theologically powerful passage,
and it contains numerous themes and allusions which could work well with a justice message. However, perhaps the first thing to be emphasized in
interpreting it is that its reference to “old” and “new” covenants does <i>not</i> refer either to the Old and New
Testaments, or to the Eucharistic words of Jesus. It is certainly clear that
the Christian Bible compilers had Jeremiah in mind when they separated the two
testaments (or <i>testamentum, </i>“covenants”),
as did Jesus (or his biographers) at the last supper. But to say, as
commentators occasionally have, that <i>Jeremiah</i>
was prophesying the division of the Bible into two parts, diminishes the very
important message that Jeremiah was in fact trying to convey.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Background
to Jeremiah 31</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In terms of its background, this section is a part of a
larger collection of writings, chs. 30-31, sometimes known as the “Book of
Comfort.” There is some debate as to whether portions of this collection
(including today’s text) were authored by Jeremiah himself or one of his
followers. The reason is that they were written during the latter days of the Babylonian
exile and Jeremiah would have been extremely old by that time if he was their
author. However, the language and message is very compatible with that of
Jeremiah (see the <i>very</i> similar
message found in ch. 32:37-41 and 24:7), so if they were in fact composed by a
later writer, that writer believed that he or she was writing within Jeremiah’s
point of view.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Also, the purpose of this section was to
promise hope and a renewal of the covenant to the beleaguered and depressed
Hebrew community living in Babylonia, and for our purposes, that message is
important regardless of the author.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
New Covenant</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In this text Yahweh promises a new day and a new
covenant for the exiled houses of Judah and Israel. The previous covenant was
based upon their liberation from bondage, “when I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the land of Egypt.” But they broke that covenant, resulting
in their new bondage in Babylonia, and now God is promising to try it again,
this time placing it within them and writing it on their hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To illustrate to your parishioners what this offer of a
new covenant might have meant theologically to Israel (and to us today), you
might reflect with them on the meaning of the original covenant Yahweh made
with Moses at Mt. Sinai. It was the central event for all Israelite life and
thought, and had a profound impact on later Christian thinking. In it Yahweh
promised to liberate the Hebrews from slavery and in return they promised to
act like liberated people. That meant two things: worshiping only Yahweh, and
treating others in the same manner that they had been treated by God. They were
a chosen, liberated people, and their only requirement was that they were to
act like it: they should be different from their idolatrous, brutal, oppressive
neighbors. This is the basic theological assumption of much of the Hebrew
scriptures (including Jeremiah).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Deuteronomy contains a number of statements of this
theology. For example, why should you love a stranger? “You shall...love the
stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:19). After
listing things to do in the Sabbatical year (including the remission of debts
and slaves, and to “open your hand to the poor and need neighbor in your land”)
the Deuteronomist reminds them why: “Remember that you were a slave in the land
of Egypt, and the L</span><span style="font-size: 7.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> your God redeemed you; for this reason I lay
this command upon you today” (15:15). Their redemption from slavery was the
theological backbone for ethical conduct with the weak and the marginalized:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: .25in; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
“You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of
justice;</div>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">
</span><i><div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Remember
that you were a slave in Egypt</span></i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> and the L</span><span style="font-size: 7.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> your
God redeemed you from there;</span></div>
</i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><div style="text-align: left;">
therefore
I command you to do this” (24:17-18).</div>
<o:p><div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><div style="text-align: left;">
“When
you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall
before the alien, the orphan, and the widow. <i>Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt</i>; therefore I am
commanding you to do this” (24:22 cf. Deut. 5:6, 15, 10:17-22, 16:12, 26:6-10).</div>
</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, as numerous prophetic voices later point out,
the Hebrew people repeatedly broke their end of the covenant, following after
other gods and oppressing their neighbors.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 31.5pt 45.0pt;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
They
know no limits in deeds of wickedness;</div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> they do not judge with justice the cause
of the orphan, to make it prosper,</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and
they do not defend the rights of the needy.</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Shall I not punish them for these things?</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
says
the LORD? (Jer. 5:27b-28)</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
[T]hey sell the righteous (or “the
innocent”) for silver</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and
the needy for a pair of sandals---</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
they who trample the head of the poor
into the dust of the earth,</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and
push the afflicted out of the way.</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
(Amos
2:6-7a)</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><div style="text-align: left;">
And in a brutal world, why were these crimes so
important? Because God had liberated them and they were supposed to act
different.</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and
led you forty years in the wilderness</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
to possess the land of the
Amorites.</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
And I raised
up some of your children to be prophets</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and some of your youths to be
nazirites (priests).</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Is
it not indeed so, O people of Israel?</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> says
the L</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">.</span></div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
(Amos 2:10-11)</div>
<o:p></o:p></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To the
Israelites, the clear result of breaking the covenant was punishment and a
return to bondage in Babylonia, which for them became a new “Egypt.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">This (the exile) occurred
because the people of Israel had sinned against the L</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> their God, who had brought them
up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They
had worshiped other gods and walked in the customs of the nations....(2 Kings
17:7-8a. Cf. 2 Kings 21:14-15, 23:26-27, 24:3-4).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In his
famous “Temple Sermon,” Jeremiah paraphrases the “if...then” nature of the
covenant: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">...[I]f you truly amend your
ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not
oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this
place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will
dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors
forever and ever. (Jer 7:5-7)</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But,
of course, they did not hold up their end of the covenant.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">...[Y]ou steal, murder, commit
adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that
you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house which is
called by my name, and say, “we are safe!”---only to go on doing all of these
abominations. [Therefore] I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and
gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall become a waste. (Jer. 7:9-10, 34)</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With
that background, we can return now to chapter 31, and understand how important
this “new” covenant was to be. God had liberated them from slavery and
delivered them to a promised land so that they would be different from their
neighbors. They would create a community of justice in which the weak (widows,
orphans, resident aliens, and “the poor”) would be cared for. Deuteronomy 15,
Exodus 12, and Leviticus 25 (the latter containing the Jubilee laws) describe a
kingdom with radically just values, the values of a world as God intended it.
Slavery of your neighbors (which in Israel was almost always caused by
indebtedness) would be banned. Slavery of foreigners would be canceled after
seven years. Aid would be given to neighbors in need, and one was not allowed
to give aid to a friend or family member in need in such a way as to turn a
profit. But instead of this Jubilee kingdom, the Israelites evolved into a
society of economic exploitation and oppression rivaling that of their
neighbors. It is one of the interesting
ironies of biblical history that the Jubilee laws of Leviticus were some of the
most radically egalitarian of any ancient society, and perhaps because of that,
there is not one single example in or out of the Bible of the powers that be
ever allowing those laws to be enacted.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .2in .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">On Their Hearts</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The result of all of this for Jeremiah (and others) was
that God responded to their violation of the covenant by delivering them into a
second slavery, this time in Babylonia. In 597, with the surrender of
Jehoiachin of Judah, and again in 587, with the fall of Jerusalem itself, the
wealthy, the powerful, and the royalty of Israel were all deported to Babylon
for almost fifty years. This geopolitical event was, according to Jeremiah and
other theologians of the period, a direct result of their acts of oppressing
the poor and worshiping idols: the two major “planks” of the violated covenant.
But now, says Jeremiah, in spite of their sin, God would give them a second
chance, a second opportunity to bring about the world that God intended. God
was now promising to make available for them a <i>new</i> covenant. It would not be new in terms of <i>content</i>—the <i>torah</i> would
still be its basis (Jer. 31:33)—but in terms of <i>place.</i> This new covenant which would be made available to them
would not be imposed upon them from the outside, but would be embedded “within
them,” “on their hearts” (<i>lêb</i> or “in
their center”). It is a bit like the
emotions of a cat. There are few things in creation that are less responsive
than a cat who does not give a damn whether you live or die. And there are few animals more loving than a
cat who wants to show affection. The difference is a matter of the will from
the inside, certainly not a will imposed by a cat’s “owner” from the outside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The heart, for Jeremiah, is the seat of the will. It was
not a geographical location, but a volitional one. When the heart was evil, one
turned from God and did evil. When the heart was good, one turned to God and
did good. But according to Jeremiah the hearts of the people of Israel had
become evil. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt;
who can understand it?” (17:9). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: .2in; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .2in .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
[T]his people has a stubborn and rebellious
heart;</div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> they
have turned aside and gone away.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
they do not say in their hearts,</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> let
us fear the L</span><span style="font-size: 7.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">our God,</span></div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
who gives rain in its season,</div>
<o:p><div style="text-align: left;">
the
autumn rain and the spring rain,</div>
</o:p></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
and keeps for us</div>
</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><div style="text-align: left;">
the weeks appointed for
the harvest. (5:23-24)</div>
</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In a prophesy calling upon the people of Jerusalem to
repent he appeals to them to “wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you
may be saved” (4:14 a). In a passage that anticipates the one for today, Yahweh
makes the promise to the exiles that “I will give them a heart to know that I
am the L</span><span style="font-size: 7.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">; and they shall be my people and I will be their
God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. (24:7. Cf. also 3:17;
7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 17:1; 18:12; 23:17).</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A sermon on this passage that tried to be honest to its
justice underpinnings could be based solely on the notion of the ways in which
we have broken the covenant of worship toward God and towards others. The
central ethical principle of the Hebrew Scriptures, and echoed in Christian
scriptures, is that God has liberated (saved, redeemed) us and now we are
supposed to liberate and redeem others. Seldom heard in church sermons, even on
this very passage, is that at its core, what it means to be a religious person
is to liberate slaves. And that means slaves of psychic demons in abusive
homes, and it means physical demons of countries enmeshed in the crippling
demands of top down elitist international trade laws that impoverish families
and starve children. But God, in spite of our perpetual inclination to break
the covenant, comes to us in these words of Jeremiah and offers us a second
(and third and fourth) chance. “Renew the covenant, and have it written on your
hearts, where it will emanate out from you rather than being imposed from
outside onto you.” God is always calling us back to the basics of worship and
justice. God is always offering us a chance to come home from Babylon. It is up
to us to make the decision to make the journey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .2in .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .2in .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Knowledge of God</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">According to Jeremiah, for those who respond to this new
covenant written on the heart, two radical things will occur. First they will
no longer need to learn of God from others, for they will now “know the L</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">” from
the inside, “from the least of them to the greatest” (31:34b). An important
point to make here is that for Jeremiah, to know the L</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">, is
not a mere act of religious education. It isn’t a list of facts that one can
memorize for confirmation class (you do, however, have kids memorize things in
Confirmation class don’t you?). For Jeremiah to know God is to do acts of
justice. When criticizing King Jehoiakim, he compares his wicked reign with the
good one of his father Josiah. He first attacks him for using slave labor to
build himself a palace during a time of war and tremendous deprivation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoList2" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">Woe to him (Jehoiakim) who
builds his house by unrighteousness,</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> and
his upper rooms by injustice;</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">who makes his neighbors work for
nothing,</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> and
does not give them their wages...</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> (Jeremiah
22:13)</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoList2" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the ancient world there were typically two ways that
one acquired a slave: as a captive during war, and through loaning money to the
poor at usurious rates and then foreclosing on their freedom when they could
not pay up (cf. Nehemiah 5:1-13; Matthew 18:21-35 (the parable of the
Unforgiving Slave). It’s interesting that since Israel seldom won a war, they
had very few military slaves, but a crisis-level number of <i>debt</i> slaves, especially during times of economic distress.
Therefore, when both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures refer to a “slave,” it
is almost always synonymous with “debtor.” Someone who has lost control of
their lives due to a broken and oppressive economic system.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So, among other things, Jeremiah is criticizing
Jehoiakim for enslaving the poor for their debts and then using them to build a
first world-style house for himself. It is being built with unrighteousness and
injustice. But then he goes on to compare Jehoiakim with his father, Josiah:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoList2" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">He (Josiah) judged the cause of
the poor and needy;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: .2in; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: .2in .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> then
it was well.</span><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">Is this not to
know me?</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> says
the L</span><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">But your eyes and heart (Jehoiakim’s)</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">are only on your dishonest gain,</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> for shedding innocent blood;</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> and for
practicing oppression and violence.<br /> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"> (Jer. 22:16-17 Italics added)</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Another direction for your sermon could be based on the
justice demands of the notion of the “knowledge of God.” Walter Brueggemann,
commenting on this passage, argues that one cannot know God without being
attentive to the needs of the poor and the weak. And he says it is not that one
is derived intellectually from the other, “rather, the two are synonymous. One
could scarcely imagine a more radical and subversive theological claim.”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> This
is very similar to the claims about loving God in the New Testament. See for
example the blunt words of 1 John 4:20-21: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and
hate their brothers or sisters, are liars.”</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Hosea, a contemporary of Jeremiah, reports that when
“there is no knowledge of God in the land, swearing, lying, and murder, and
stealing and adultery break out; bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the
land mourns, and all who live in it languish....” (4:1b-3a). The Peruvian
theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez makes the point that God is encountered in
concrete acts of justice an mercy to others. So if justice is not present, then
God is not present. “To know Yahweh...is to establish just relationships among
persons, it is to recognize the rights of the poor. The God of Biblical
revelation is known through interhuman justice. When justice does not exist,
God is not known; God is absent.”</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Robert McAfee Brown, in a sermon on a related
passage in Jeremiah, gives these examples of the same point:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent" style="tab-stops: .25in 31.5pt 45.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">So, <i>to know God</i> might mean working in a political party to overthrow a
modern Jehoiakim. It might mean saying no to economic or religious structures
that provide privileges for the rich at the expense of the poor. It might mean
joining a labor union in areas where labor unions are outlawed, since in no
other way would the poor be able to gain enough power to demand just working
conditions and just wages.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></blockquote>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Forgive
Their Iniquity</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The second thing which will happen to those who respond
to the new covenant is that they will receive forgiveness. “I will forgive
their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (v. 34c cf. 1 Kings 8:46-53).
The phrase hangs on the key introductory word, <i>ki</i>, “because.” All of the above will happen <i>because</i> I forgive their iniquity. Everything in the new covenant
and all sense of beginning again anew depends entirely on Yahweh’s forgiveness.
Accept it and a new life opens up. Reject it and you have rejected the covenant
itself.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s probably too great a leap to move straight from
God’s forgiveness of the iniquity of the Babylonian captives to the forgiveness
of debts in the third world, though it is true that by the time of Jesus “debt”
and “sin” had become almost synonymous (consider the interchangeability of the
words debts and sins in the “Lord’s Prayer”). However, there are two elements
in Yahweh’s forgiveness which at least touch on it. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First, true forgiveness
will “remember their sin no more.” True forgiveness does not cover up the past,
but lets it go. The misguided (even “sinful”) loans of the 1970s which caused
the wretched indebted conditions of today were caused by negotiations wealthy people in both the first
world and the third world. But today it is only people of the <i>third </i>world which is being asked to pay for those sins. To be
more precise, it is the <i>poor</i> of the
third world who see money for public education, healthcare, and roads being
spent on repaying loans made to their grandparents twenty-five years ago, who
are paying for the sins. The rich can afford private health care and private
education, and always have the remaining, tiny, infrastructure budgets spent on
their communities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">There are also some similarities closer to home in the causes of the gradual
crumbling we are experiencing in the US economy. Again, there is not an
exact parallel, but there are some threads that can be found in both stories,
and could at least be mentioned in a sermon on this text. As most of us are
aware, for the first two hundred years of US history, productivity and wealth
went up at roughly the same rate for all income brackets. The poor were poorer,
but their incomes still rose when productivity rose. But starting gradually in the late seventies
and explosively in the eighties, the link between income and productivity came uncoupled.
Productivity continued to rise, but the income from it went almost exclusively to the
wealthy. Incomes for the middle class stagnated and for the poor they actually
went down, and incomes for the wealthy skyrocketed. Not often
mentioned in news reports on this topic was that as middle class incomes stayed flat, costs of
education, healthcare, and Social Security continued to rise. So, in terms of actual buying power, the incomes of almost every person in modern America has declined for over thirty years. A new study recently found that wages for young worker have been dropping twice as fast as for older workers, which does not bode well for the future of the nation as a whole.[8] </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span>
These changes, just like in Ancient Israel, were planned
and not accidental. Increasingly tax cuts and favorable trade laws for wealthy families and corporations (which encourage moving jobs to poorer countries)
redistributed wealth upward and created an increasingly unstable economy. In
the nineties, people increasingly went into debt to keep up an appearance of
being middle class while Wall Street banking and investment firms took their mortgage
money and gambled with it internationally as though it was their own, ultimately causing a crash that
destroyed a generation of lives and families and futures in America, and it ricocheted all around the world
(the disease of greed is not unique to the US). Everybody lost something, but
the Bush and Obama bailouts and tax cuts allowed the very richest people in America to regain their wealth
and income within two to three years, while the middle and bottom are still struggling with stagnating
and declining incomes.<br />
<br />
It's telling to note that even now when employment is going up for the first time in five years, salaries are not. It is good that people are beginning to return to work, but they are returning to the same flat-lined income they had back in 2006 and 7. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This (overly abbreviated) story is one that Jeremiah
would find great resonance in and sympathy for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The second thing about true forgiveness is that it may not redistribute wealth,
but it does redistribute power.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> A
snarky corollary of a new “Golden Rule” might be, “the one has the gold gets
to make the rules.” This is uncannily true in the workings of such financial
institutions as the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade
Organization, that have the power to set global rules for finance and trade and
then force developing countries to comply,
even if
it means impoverishing their own people to do so. In <i>true
</i>forgiveness, the one who truly forgives, forgets the past and shares the gold.
Jesus was despised by the power brokers who were his contemporaries, because he
understood this. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom
for many” (Mark 10:43-45).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="line-height: 16px;"><i>Now Behave</i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">Archbishop Desmond Tutu once told a story of teaching a confirmation class years ago in which he outlined the meaning of the Mosaic Covenant. He went step by step through it, explaining the promise of God, that God would rescue the Hebrew people from slavery and that they would worship only God and then act in ways that showed themselves to be liberated people. And he tried to illustrate for the kids how that principle also showed up in the teaching of Jesus later on. When finished, to see if he had gotten the message across, he asked them to tell him what he had just said. He got a variety of attempts, some close some not. Then one little boy raised his hand and put it better than any theologian could have. He said (quoting God), “I saved your butts, so now you go behave.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>A case strongly made by Walter Brueggemann, <i>A Commentary on
Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming (</i>Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998, revised), pp.
291-295.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Gerhard Von Rad sees these two passages as
different versions of the same message delivered on separate occasions, and
therefore evidence that both are from Jeremiah. <i>The Message of the Prophets, </i>tr. D.M.G. Stalker (New York: Harper
& Row: 1965), p. 181.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Brueggemann, “Covenant as a Subversive Paradigm,”
<i>A Social Reading of the Old Testament:
Prophetic Approaches to Israel's Communal Life</i> (Minneapolis: Augsburg
Fortress: 1994), p. 49.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>A
Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation, </i>tr. Sr.<i> </i>Caridad
Inda and John Eagleson (New York: Maryknoll: 1988, revised ed.), p. 110-111.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>Unexpected News: Reading the Bible
with Third World Eyes</i>
(Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1984), p. 68.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Brueggemann, <i>Jeremiah,
</i>p. 294. Italics added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/AppData/Local/Temp/SR.LENT.5.B.Jer%2031%20JubileeRevised03%2022%2015.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> See Brueggemann, “Covenant as a Subversive
Paradigm,” p. 50, for more on this.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[8] Heidi Shierholz, Hilary Wething, and Natalie Sabadish, <i>The Class of 2012: Labor market for young graduates remains grim</i>, Economic Policy Institute, May 3, 2012 (http://www.epi.org/publication/bp340-labor-market-young-graduates).</span></div>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-45878926043894339032015-03-02T11:26:00.000-05:002018-03-01T10:42:46.711-05:00Jesus and the International Currency Traders in the Temple<h2>
<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Lent 2, Year B</span></h2>
<b style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">John 2.13-22</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Midway through Lent, pretty much every year, we clergy types have to look once again at an extremely odd story of Jesus taking a whip to the “Money Changers” in the Temple in Jerusalem. This year it's found in John 2.13-22, and it's just as odd as ever. It isn't easy to get a hold of, given our penchant for meek and mild images of Jesus, and that’s probably why most of us (okay, maybe some of us) try to just talk about it's “spiritual” side (purifying the religion of the day) instead of its more gritty, political, and economic underbelly.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Though
“cleansing of the temple” is the common title for this passage, that is not
really what is going on here. “Cleansing” implies something has been cleaned up
or changed or reformed. But, in John’s version of the story (and probably in
the Synoptics’), Jesus doesn’t appear interested in cleaning up the market
system that operated at the </span><st1:city style="font-size: 10.5pt;" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Temple</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">,
but in doing away with its idolatrous economic infrastructure altogether.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="font-size: 10.5pt;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The
story occurs when Jesus enters <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>
for the first time. It is evocative to note that his first (and probably last) visit
to the city was to celebrate the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery. As we
noted earlier, the “spinal cord” for ethical behavior for Hebrews was that God
liberated them from slavery, and now their task was to do the same for others.
This was the basis for the Sabbath and Jubilee legislation: God freed us, so we
must now free others. So, hundreds of years later, Jews from all over <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> were required to return to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city> on the festival
known as “Passover” to be reminded of that covenant promise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">In
Jesus’ case, he made his trip to <st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city> after
an extensive ministry in <st1:place w:st="on">Galilee</st1:place>, preaching a
spiritual and economic egalitarianism. He appears to have entered <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city> expecting (or
at least <i>wanting</i>) to see a celebration
of the Exodus liberation acts of God and saw instead a corrupted system that maintained
the economic caste system. According to all four canonical gospel accounts, he
enters the temple, sees the activities being performed there, and is enraged.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
John Dominic Crossan says that Jesus’ message of radical equality and
liberation “</span><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">exploded
in indignation at the temple as the seat and symbol of all that was
non-egalitarian, patronal, and even oppressive on both the religious and
political level.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">But what exactly did he find that enraged him so? According
to John, Jesus found two things: those who were “selling” and those who were “changing.”
The <i>sellers</i> sold things like cattle,
sheep, and doves for the offerings, and the <i>changers</i>
changed money from international currency to local currency. Both were corrupt,
and both were central to the economic idolatry that sustained the nation as a
whole. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The sellers (<i>tous p</i></span></b><b><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">ō</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">lountas</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">) </span></b><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">were
those who sold animals for the offerings made at the temple (sorry, but that
was the tradition; they would probably think that I-pads and high heels were immoral
too). People were required to make sacrifices for a variety of festivals and
rites. If you were wealthy you gave a large animal, like a cow or ox. If you
were poor you gave doves or pigeons.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
However, to ensure “unblemished” animals, you were required to purchase your
animals at the gate of the temple where the prices were higher than the country-side.
And, as with any regressive tax or price system, the costs tended to be felt more
by the poor than the wealthy. To purchase one pair of doves at the temple was the
equivalent of two days’ wages. But the doves had to be inspected for quality
control just <i>inside</i> the temple, and if
your recently purchased unblemished animals were found to be in fact blemished,
then you had to buy two more doves for the equivalent of 40 days’ wages!<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Josephus,
the Jewish historian, tells a story of Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel (son of
Gamaliel, Paul’s personal spiritual trainer), who went on a campaign against
price gouging. But unfortunately stories of someone trying to protect the poor
from the practice are rare. More common was the reference in the Jewish Mishna that
the costs of birds rose so fast in Jesus’ time that women began lying or
aborting their babies to avoid the required and punitive fees. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The <i>changers </i>(</span></b><b><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">kermatistēs</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">) </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">were needed because neither the </span><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">animal offerings nor the temple tax could be paid with the
Roman currency in use for most of the national commerce, because it had
pictures (read “graven images”) of the Roman Emperor on them who claimed to be a
god. So, the money had to be changed into usable local currency. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-language: KO;">The money changers sat outside of the temple proper,
in the “court of the gentiles.” They bought and sold money as a part of the functioning
of the general economy. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>,
in fact, required a money changing industry because it was an international
city that dealt in a number of currencies and people had to have a system by
which they could buy and sell them. They used the money changers both for basic
commerce and also for currency speculation. Insider traders could make fortunes
when a new Roman battalion came to town carrying a glut of new coins which
depressed the value of the local currencies. Ched Myers calls the money changers
“street level representatives of banking interests of considerable power.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Indeed, because there was no one else to perform the function, the money changers
were the banks in first century <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>.
</span><i><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 17.1pt 2.75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 17.1pt 2.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">However, the Money Changers were also corrupt. They
would not only exaggerate the fees they had to charge for the transactions,
they would also inflate the exchange rate. The result was that for a poor
person, the Money Changer’s share of the temple tax was about one day’s wages
and his share of the transaction from international to local currency was about
a half-day’s wages. And that was <i>before</i>
they purchased their unblemished animals for sacrifice and then had to buy them
again (at an enhanced price) because the inspector found a blemish or otherwise
inadequate for the offering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">All
tolled, a one day stay in Jerusalem during one of the three major festivals
could cost between $3,000 and $4,000 dollars in contemporary value, and Jews
were required to attend at least one of them each year. Josephus estimated that
up to 2.25 million people visited <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city></st1:place>
during Passover, which would generate the equivalent of hundreds of millions of
dollars.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The
money-changers opened their stalls in the country towns a month before the
feast and then moved them to the temple by the time of the first arrivals. While
all of this may appear immoral, none of it was illegal. They were business men
operating within the law. But it took Jesus and a few radical rabbis to point
out that the law itself was unjust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Two
last notes on the tables used by the money changers. First, it's interesting to
note that the word, “table” <i>trapezes, </i>had
just two usages, one was for reclined eating and the other was for conducting
financial transactions. It functioned like a loan office where people invested and
borrowed money, and was sometimes translated simply as “Bank” (cf. Luke 19:23).</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-language: KO;"> The second thing is that in </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Isaiah 65:11 God condemns those tables. He says that people
who forget God and God’s holy mountain are like those who set up “tables” to
“Gad,” the name for the God of wealth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">So, what was Jesus’ response to the situation he found in
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>? He
made a whip, drove out the money changers, poured out their coins, turned over
their tables and demanded that they “Stop making the realm of God into a realm
of commerce." It’s interesting to note that he doesn’t say “stop abusing a
good system,” but simply “stop the system.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Those who today believe the current global economic system
has failed, often fall into three types. First, those who believe that </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">the system itself is wrong (the very <i>fact </i>of markets creates wealth and
poverty, and that’s wrong); second, that this <i>particular model </i>of economic globalization is wrong (other systems
could be designed to be more fair, but this one is not); and finally, that the
system is fine, but there are abusers of it and discontinuities within it (if
we could just get markets to work right then eventually all boats will be
lifted). Jesus seemed to be in at least the second camp, and maybe even the
first: the very existence of the market <i>at
all</i> was what caused evil. According to what we know of him in this text
itself, he would most likely be against the </span><i><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">marketization</span></i><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> of life itself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">To make his point stronger,
he followed his actions with the dramatic pronouncement that the temple, which
was the national center of worship, trade, and finance, would be destroyed.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In
Mark’s version he even sets up a type of
boycott of all goods and commerce coming into the temple, which starved it of
the funds it was using to fatten the rich.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">So how would you preach on this passage? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">First, walk through the
story with your congregation, using the background information in this essay.
Most people, even if they know of the story, have no idea of the economic ramifications
of the “cleansing” story. Given the confrontation at the temple, it is no
wonder that the Synoptics believed it to be the key event that turned the
authorities against Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Second, tie this ancient oppressive
system to today’s global system that continues to keep two-thirds of the world
in poverty. Read up on how the austerity programs imposed on poor countries as
a requirement of receiving debt relief has in many instances actually caused <i>more</i> poverty, and weakened their ability
to pay those debts. The recent revolt in Greece is a good example of that which
you can cite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Another less frequently
reported example is the Ebola-hit countries of West Africa. For decades the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and other multi-lateral financial agencies, have imposed
strict restrictions on these countries’ public spending so that they can
continue making payments on ancient loans (often taken out by long-dead
dictators for personal use). The result has been that these countries have had
to make dramatic cuts in spending on infrastructure, education, and <i>health care</i>, which meant that when the crisis
hit, their resources with which to address the problem had been seriously
diminished. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">For the last two years the
faith-based Jubilee USA Network has been lobbying the Obama Administration and
the IMF to get them to cancel at least a portion of the debt burden that is
crippling these countries. Finally, in February of this year, the IMF announced
that it would release $170 million in debt-relief (and more in less restrictive
loans) to three Ebola-affected countries—Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. That
the relief will be a major contribution in their ability to turn back the
epidemic more quickly than experts had predicted. This would be a good story to
cite for your congregation, and you can find updates and other stories about Jubilee’s
work on their web site, www.jubileeusa.org<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">You could then conclude by
saying that as people of faith, we cannot ignore the world beyond our doorstep.
God stands with the powerless against the powerful. Isaiah attacked those who
were rich for their opulence: “Their land is filled with silver and gold, and
there is no end to their treasures” (2:7a). Jeremiah said they “have become
great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of
wickedness” (2:8). Amos said that unchecked, the wealthy would “trample on the
needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land” (Amos 8:4, cf. 2:7, 4:1).
According to Amos, the special, spiritual sin of the economically powerful was
that they could lounge on couches, eat lambs from the flock, drink wine from
bowls, but “are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph [their poor neighbors]”
(6:4-6).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14px;">Jesus railed against the abuses of power by Herod and the religio-political leaders of Jerusalem. Both he and his cousin John demanded great financial sacrifices of those entering and modeling the coming “Realm” of God. I suspect that a number of us, of whatever religious stripe (not all Christian) could see ourselves as their offspring and followers, if we understood this as the path they were leading us in. With a world still wracked in pain today we can do a lot worse than to walk with faith in their footsteps.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> Among others, see Malina & Rohrbaugh, <i>Social-Science Commentary on the Gospel of
John</i>, “This incident represents ... prophetic actions symbolizing the
temple’s destruction,” p. 73. And John Dominic Crossan, <em>The Historical
Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant</em> (San Francisco: HarperCollins,
1992), who says it </span><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">attempted
to symbolically end the temple’s “fiscal, sacrificial, and liturgical
operations,” p. 358.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> The Synoptics are probably more historically accurate
when they place the story at the end of their Gospels instead of at the beginning
as in John. But all four agree that it is his first visit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> John Dominic Crossan, <i>The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant </i>(1991), </span><span style="font-family: "m" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">p. 360.</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> You may recall that Jesus’ parents, who were very
poor, brought two turtle doves for the dedication of Jesus (Luke 2:24).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> Jerry Goebel, “The Gospels: The testimonials of Jesus
Christ” onefamilyoutreach.com/Bible/John/jn_2_13-25.htm (2002).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> Ched Myers, <i>Binding
the Strong Man </i>(Orbis, 1991)<i>,</i> p.
301.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> Jerry Goebel, “The Gospels: The testimonials of Jesus
Christ,” http://onefamilyoutreach.com/Bible/John/jn_2_13-25.htm, 2002.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-fareast-language: KO;">It might be interesting to learn that according to Mel Gibson’s movie, “The
Passion of the Christ,” Jesus invented the “tall table” to be used for sitting.
</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> This is debated, but see above on n. 1. Within the
ancient texts the range runs from Mark, who denies that Jesus said it so many
times that it resembles “damage control,” to Thomas (71), which simply states
that Jesus said it with no qualifications. Crossan believes Thomas to be the
more historical because it is simple, straightforward and unapologetic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> Mark 11:15-19. See
especially, Mark 11:16 “and he blocked (<i>aphiēmi</i></span><span style="font-family: "wl latinallin1cour"; font-size: 9.0pt;">) </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">anyone from bringing any goods, equipment, or vessels (<i>skeûos</i></span><span style="font-family: "wl latinallin1cour"; font-size: 9.0pt;">) </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; layout-grid-mode: line;">from coming through the temple.”</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Stan/Dropbox/A.Worship/Sermons/Serms.B/SR.Lent.B/SR.Lent.03.B/SR.Lent.03.BJubSun/JohnTemple/Econmic%20commentary%20on%20Temple%20story%2003%2015.doc#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> For an article specific to Ebola-related
debt relief, follow this link: http://www.jubileeusa.org/press/press-item/article/imf-plan-offers-170-million-in-debt-relief-for-ebola-impacted-west-africa.html</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-26324534668343434372015-02-20T07:31:00.001-05:002015-02-20T07:31:30.494-05:00Pre-Civil War Slave States and 2012 US Presidential Election Results<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Now, this is interesting. What's wrong with this picture? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(Or, better, why hasn't there been more change over time between these two pictures?)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6gnjBuSWaD0/VOcoMrqY5uI/AAAAAAAA1MM/upQTp8So1qc/s1600/map_nowvsthen2012b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6gnjBuSWaD0/VOcoMrqY5uI/AAAAAAAA1MM/upQTp8So1qc/s1600/map_nowvsthen2012b.JPG" height="318" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-59910922992345842392015-02-06T10:44:00.000-05:002015-02-10T11:00:00.282-05:00Jubilee and the Ebola Crisis<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hi Everybody,</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://jubileeusa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c7ee953ef01a51196b49e970c-800wi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://jubileeusa.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c7ee953ef01a51196b49e970c-800wi" height="234" width="320" /></a>Occasionally some of you ask me for updates on what Jubilee USA is
doing these days. Some of you may recall that a few months ago I posted a petition for people to sign with their local organization to help
Jubilee as a signatory on a case of Argentina being sued for some
old (and very large) debts that was coming before the US Supreme
Court. And many of you signed that, thank you. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't think I ever got back to all of you about how that
came out. Maybe it was because I was disappointed in the results, but unfortunately Jubilee (and more importantly, Argentina) lost the case. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To update you on what happened, here are links to two things you can read.
First is my original blog post about it, "<a href="http://jubileejusticeeconomics.blogspot.com/2014/03/jubilee-argentina-and-supreme-court.html" target="_blank">Jubilee,
Argentina, and the Supreme Court</a>," which gives some of the
background on where the debt came from and who was now suing to be
paid. And the second is an article from the New York Times, "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/21/business/international/in-argentinas-debt-case-no-winners-but-a-lot-of-losers.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Argentina's
Debt Case, No Winners, but a Lot of Losers</a>" (11/21/14), which
gives some of the follow up story after the fact. It was a great
loss, but one cannot give up. There are many more places and issues that need
our work and our help. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today, I'm sending you information about another important issue
that Jubilee has been working on for several years that has just now
broken open. It will be of enormous help to countries in West Africa
that have been stricken with the human and financial losses due to
Ebola, and yet still have to pay out millions every year to pay of
their aging historic debts. The news is that after years of our
lobbying and urging, the IMF announced just this morning that it was
offering a financial aid package to these countries of $330 million,
$160 of which will be loans (but at very modest rates), and $170
million in straight debt cancellation. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have pasted below a press release about the story, plus <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/ebol-debt-relief-6feb15/2631932.html" target="_blank">click
here</a> for a news article about it. Jubilee's director, Eric LeCompte is quoted extensively in the article. You might have also heard him interviewed on NPR and PBS recently as the settlement was being announced. To paraphrase Vice
President Biden, "this is a big #$%&* deal." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And finally, here is a plug. Jubilee USA is one of the most
remarkable, effective, faith-based, but under-the-radar
organizations in the US. It does a tremendous amount of amazing good
work for millions of people around the world. But very few people
(at least in the US) have ever heard of it. If any of you would ever
like to learn more, or join, or become a "<a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/faith/jubilee-congregations.html" target="_blank">Jubilee
Congregation</a>," let me know. I'm willing to come speak at a
Conference or Regional gathering, and would gladly talk with you by
phone or email about what they do and how individuals like you can
be involved. Just let me know. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Commercial's over--now back to work. I just got home from two weeks
in Cuba, and have thousands of more mundane things like laundry and
grocery shopping to get around to. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Be well and be faithful and don't ever give up. If it ever feels
like this is a dark time for people of faith and conscience to be
working for justice and human rights, think for a moment what the
health of the world would be like if your work had not been added to
it. Life can be, and would be, much darker without the inputs and
wisdom and courage of people like you. I'm convinced that the cosmic
conscience of humanity thanks you. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Blessings, </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stan</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<br />
<hr size="2" style="text-align: justify;" width="100%" />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<strong></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</strong></strong></div>
<strong>
</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
February 5, 2015</div>
<strong></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><br /></strong></div>
<strong>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>Available for interview: Eric LeCompte, Executive
Director</strong></div>
</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Contact: Sophia Har, Communications Director</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="mailto:sophia@jubileeusa.org" target="_blank"></a><a href="mailto:sophia@jubileeusa.org" target="_blank">sophia@jubileeusa.org</a> / (o) <a href="tel:%28202%29%20783-3566%20x101" target="_blank">(202) 783-3566 x101</a> (m)
(651)
815-1818</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">
IMF Plan Offers $170 Million in
Debt Relief for Ebola-Impacted West Africa</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
IMF Debt
Facility Can Now Aid World's Poorest Countries During Crises</div>
</span></h1>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">
<strong>Washington DC</strong> -
<strong></strong>The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is
providing
$330 million of financing to aid Ebola-impacted countries. The
plan
includes $170 million of debt relief and grant-like aid for
Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea. The new plan also expands a debt relief
facility previously used to cancel debt after Haiti's 2010
earthquake.
The new expanded facility, the Catastrophe Containment and
Relief
Trust (CCR), is now a permanent debt relief facility for the
world's
poorest countries when they experience shocks such as epidemics
or
natural disasters.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong>"This aid is so vital for the
countries affected by Ebola," said Eric LeCompte, Executive
Director
of the religious anti-poverty organization Jubilee USA
Network. "Now
we have a permanent debt relief vehicle for when the poorest
countries
face certain crises. Essentially, a global social safety net
is now in
place to protect the least developed countries when they
experience
disasters."</strong></strong></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</strong>
<strong><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
</strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
$100
million of debt relief will come through the IMF's new
Catastrophe
Containment and Relief Trust. Another $70 million in debt relief
will
come from other governments who hold debt in the three
countries.
Concessional loans of $160 million add up to a grand total of
$330
million in new financing. The package also includes a new
financing
mechanism designed to deliver funds to disaster-impacted
countries
quickly without worsening debt burdens.</div>
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong>"This new
fund is an important, permanent tool in the fight against
poverty,"
noted LeCompte, who serves on United Nations expert groups on
debt and
global finance. "It means resources for countries that need
them most
at the time they need them most."</strong></strong></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</strong>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Jubilee USA
moved the IMF to create the Post Catastrophe Debt Relief Trust
(PCDR)
after Haiti's 2010 earthquake and to finance the fund through
windfall
gold sales. Jubilee USA urged the US government to call on the
IMF to
use the fund for Ebola-impacted countries. In November, the
White
House asked the IMF to grant $100 million in debt relief through
the
fund and took its proposal to the G20. At the G20 summit, the
IMF
agreed to the $300 million package, which its board now
approved.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Fund's plan includes a new innovation: rapidly
distributing loans to countries in need and then using debt
relief to
provide grant-like aid. The $100 million in debt relief - which
represents roughly 20% of the countries' quotas at the Fund - is
designed to offset any increased debt burden from emergency
loans. Prior to the announcement, Liberia, Sierra Leone and
Guinea
owed a combined $372 million to the IMF. The three countries
have a
combined total debt stock of over $3 billion; much of that debt
comes
from dictatorships, civil wars and one-party rule. The three
countries paid a total of $81 million in debt service in 2013.
In
2012, Guinea, where the outbreak began, spent more money on debt
than
on public health.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></strong><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><strong>"Tonight I'm toasting the IMF and
the White House," said LeCompte. "Unfortunately the World Bank
has remained silent in the face of this crisis. I pray they
follow the
IMF's lead."</strong></strong></div>
<strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</strong>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Read the <a href="http://jubileeusa.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2Fexternal%2Fnp%2Fsec%2Fpr%2F2015%2Fpr1534.htm&utm_campaign=pr_imfebola2&n=1&e=69bb6e5057e9a4c3c47c7b96afeccf73&utm_source=jubileeusa&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">IMF's
announcement</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Read more about <a href="http://jubileeusa.nationbuilder.com/r?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jubileeusa.org%2Fourwork%2Ftruth-about-debt%2Fdebt-relief-and-ebola.html&utm_campaign=pr_imfebola2&n=2&e=69bb6e5057e9a4c3c47c7b96afeccf73&utm_source=jubileeusa&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">Ebola debt relief</a>.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<em></em><br />
<div style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; text-align: justify;">
<em><em>Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75
US organizations and 400 faith communities working with 50
Jubilee
global partners. Jubilee's mission is to build an economy that
serves,
protects and promotes the participation of the most
vulnerable.
Jubilee USA has won critical global financial reforms and more
than
$130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest
people.
<a href="http://www.jubileeusa.org/" target="_blank">www.jubileeusa.org</a></em></em></div>
<em>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<em>###</em></div>
</span></em></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="moz-signature">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-66509458145709942272014-12-04T11:24:00.000-05:002014-12-04T11:56:28.231-05:00<span style="font-size: x-large;">Grand Jury Declines to Indict Officer in <strike>Ferguson</strike> New York Killing</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let's see, <o:p></o:p></div>
<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal">NYC the
police gave a choke hold to an unarmed black man, and choke
holds are banned by the NYC Police Department<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The man
repeatedly yelled out, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe" but
they continued until he passed out. Minutes later he died.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">The medical
examiners concluded his death resulted from pressure on his neck
and throat from the choke hold, along with “the compression of
his chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by
police." Made worse because of his asthma. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">There were
twenty people who saw the illegal choke hold and heard him
screaming.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">There
was a very clear, very graphic, video taken of the event<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">Nobody
disputes any of the events in the video or the charges. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal">And a grand
jury said that there was not enough evidence to allow it to go
to trial. <o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, okay then…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the way, for what it's worth, Grand Juries
are not Court
Juries. Their task is simply to hear the prosecutor's case to see
if there is
enough evidence against the accused to justify a case going forward. They don’t need,
and almost
never receive, both sides. They are not trying the case, just
seeing if the
evidence merits a trial. In the new York City case, as with the
Ferguson, MO case,
they received ALL of the evidence on BOTH sides and in effect
tried the case. It
wasn't illegal to do that, but <i>extremely </i>unusual
and not at all what they were called together to do. That had much
to do with
their decision. </div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-40375506481173551352014-11-11T23:21:00.000-05:002014-11-15T19:52:47.796-05:00The Parable of the Life-Risking, Faithful Servant<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Proper 28, Year A</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Matthew 25:14-30</b> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span>his is the Gospel passage that most people of my particular
vocation (mainline, generic, Protestant pastor) try to preach on every three
years at about this time, as the twenty-<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3d4dd7f3-d4eb-4e9a-8c8a-2eebd693d1cc" id="aca40af4-1def-4d07-acad-33cac8edbda5"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c691d864-aa9d-468a-86e0-225b822c2542" id="d0f9fb47-4f29-498f-ada1-656f1f5ad9ee">eighth</span></span> "Proper" after
Pentecost, traditionally known as "The Parable of the Talents." And
when we do so, we traditionally tend to fumble it badly. The (alleged)
allegorical first part is a problem (why would Jesus tell a story about his
going away and coming back to judge us, when most of his listeners had no clue
that he might eventually go away). And the brutality of the concluding part is
a problem (why would Jesus destroy someone and cast him into outer darkness
just for not following orders?). So, we wind up preaching something that is
sweet and supportive, but also fairly mushy and toothless. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today I'm more and more inclined to think that it actually
has very little to do with "talents" as we know them (singing,
dancing, selfie-taking, etc.) and much more to do with money and banking and
oppression and power, and also one poor, faithful, schlep who stood up to it
all and took a hit for it. That may sound a little strong, but given the First
Century transactions by wealthy people with real "Talents" (that is,
with money), I think it may be a lot closer to the original intent of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Let's start with the money. Most of what we would think of
today as commercial trade or "investing" in Palestine was done by the
wealthy one percent--meaning rich people, royalty and the priests (who took in
and spent investments held in the temple, and then traded with them for foreign
goods and currency).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were two common ways that one with sufficient capital
could make a profit from investing. The first was by lending to those involved
in the currency exchange business in the Temple. When Jews or others came to
Jerusalem from other parts of the world, they needed to change their
international currency into the local Jewish currency, and the exchange tables
served this purpose. International Jews in particular (and there were many)
needed to make a sacrifice in the Temple, but typically only carried Roman
currency, with the Emperor's picture on it, so they exchanged it for local
currency, which did not (remember the story of Jesus and the coin with Caesar's
picture on it?). A wealthy person's investment in this, from fees and
exaggerating the exchange rate, could be very high.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second form of investment was in mortgage loans or
bridge loans to small farmer families struggling to stay afloat in the
declining first century Palestinian economy. Most loans made huge returns on
their investment because interest rates were so astronomically high by today's
standards--anywhere between twenty-five to fifty percent. (It's worth noting in
this regard that one of the causes of the "lost decade" of the 1980s,
for poor and developing countries of the global south, was that the interest
charged by banks in the "First World" on loans to countries in the
"Third World" rose sometimes to as high as twenty-seven percent.) The
purpose for loans then, was primarily for the purpose of getting borrowers in
over their heads and then being foreclosed on and losing their property. They
would then either become tenants on what had been their own property, or
homeless, or join the ranks of the growing number of bandits or revolutionary
militias. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You noticed a similar thing happening in southern Mexico
(and elsewhere) during the mid-1990s, when the rules of NAFTA allowed the
government to stop issuing credit to poor coffee farmers at just the same time
that the prices for coffee collapsed to an all-time low. The result was
hundreds of thousands of families losing their homes and their farms and
becoming beggars, or fighters, or sweatshop workers, or immigrants into the US,
fueling the immigration issue decades later that has Congress inflamed today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Much of the income from the first century loans was
deposited in the Temple to keep the rich from having to pay a Roman tax on it,
and also to keep them from officially being the holders of the debt when the Sabbath
and Jubilee-debt-cancellation years rolled around. A law called the
"Prosbul" allowed them put their money in the Temple just before the
seventh year (when debts were to be canceled) so that they could claim that they no longer had the money and were not able to cancel the debt. And then
that money held in the Temple was often invested elsewhere by the priests who were the financial
overseers of the "bank's" holdings. There are a number of ancient
inscriptions that show Priests investing in trade and commodities using this
"tax-sheltered" money drawn from mortgages taken out by poor families
in rural Palestine. That's probably one of the reasons why Jesus decided to
occupy the Temple and set up a temporary boycott of currency trading there as
his first official act in Jerusalem. And it is clearly the reason why--when the
revolution finally came--the angry 99 <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6142f28e-2f8e-4897-8c2c-4ad7bdf12aab" id="a7bd8ce3-2d8b-4f29-8812-71ef016baee8"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b2ac1b63-fb57-4901-9a6a-01c972353a9c" id="0c92d3e5-8a0b-45e4-9240-2a47265b397d">percenters</span></span> stormed the temple and burned
the mortgage papers that had been held there<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6142f28e-2f8e-4897-8c2c-4ad7bdf12aab" id="dd89105d-9f58-406a-a774-a8091f6a74fb"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b2ac1b63-fb57-4901-9a6a-01c972353a9c" id="782b846b-53fc-4d5a-bdf3-6f736cf73d30">.</span></span>[1]<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was also common, as this parable indicates, for wealthy
lenders to pass the dirty tasks of originating the loans, and collecting <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3c9c6177-6516-477f-a0c1-fcbdf87dbd9b" id="5b675422-2765-4095-a305-89600c3c4fbd"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="690a2c1c-290c-4f6a-bee5-35be7ace4e77" id="5fd4dc3c-2fc1-4b5a-898f-450f78899b37">on</span></span> them,
and then repossessing the properties, down to their servants. It was considered
dishonorable for nobility to expand their wealth, and since servants were a
class without honor, they were given the job. That gave the lenders the ability
to deny any knowledge of wrong-doing if an evicted family's misery became too
public<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1f4e3e29-4866-4c26-938d-0e3874aaa2f7" id="135c958a-7324-4a6f-8b04-4fa977d82c8c"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e90c2a05-5400-40b2-be15-bbaffd6c8406" id="24af6f64-c608-447a-ba61-719eee70994b">.</span></span>[2] Jesus' story of the widow and the unjust judge is something similar to
this (Luke 18:1-8, Proper 24 C).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It's also important to add here that the servants who were
entrusted with inflicting this pain on people didn't do it necessarily for
monetary gain (because they usually weren't paid anything), but instead they
did it for the power and prestige they received for successfully managing the
company. As the parable says, if they were successful in little, they would be
given power and responsibility over much. The lead character in the parable of
the Dishonest Steward plays a similar role. Also reflected here is that
interest rates were often as high as fifty percent, so it would not be at all
unlikely for a steward of a powerful finance family to double or even triple an
investment<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="88209a8e-1cda-48b1-8730-440eb692b139" id="f3198170-d91e-4d09-b076-3bef5ac8b5a8"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d51fa1d2-61a4-4c27-9684-5f481542c0be" id="0d9b6f35-8561-4729-ab1b-2c988fc1342b">.</span></span>[3]<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this story, servants one and two clearly went along with
this insidious system and were rewarded handily for their efforts. The first
put his money into trading (<i>ergázomai</i>, probably commodities because they were
the most frequently traded at the time), and the second used interest-bearing
investments (<i>kerdainō</i>, like the loans and currency-trading mentioned above),
but both made a healthy profit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But the third person (often the hero in three-part tales),
following the Torah that forbade lending money at interest (Exodus 22.20-30),
believed that the system was corrupt, that the leader was evil, that money
should not be used as a weapon against homes and farms and families, and he
refused to participate. He accused the wealthy one <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="eead2036-09df-4d1b-95e6-a8825a4d64ef" id="531451ea-94ce-4a57-905e-481e22ff5fe7">percenter</span> of being a
"<i>sklēros</i>," someone who is violent, rough, offensive, and thoroughly
intolerable. He accuses him of not actually doing anything to get his wealth:
he doesn't plant, he doesn't distribute (<i>diaskorpízō</i>) his wealth. He just
collects interest on it from the misery of people who were sucked into the
downwardly spiraling system.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So he denounces the crime, buries the money, and in the end
gets crucified for his actions. It is telling that he put the money in the
ground, which is ultimately owned by God (Leviticus 25:23-28). Is Jesus saying
that he gave the money back to God, the ultimate owner? The ground is also
where Judas hid his "blood money" when he realized that it had just
caused his friend's death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, what are the preaching themes and possibilities in this
story? There are two traditional readings of this story. The first is that the
(evil, greedy, wicked) Master is Jesus, who left us for a while and will come
again at the end of time for an ominous reckoning of how we have used or
misused our "talents" (usually <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="778753d7-82a6-4a35-91ba-eeb9d8dd1271" id="37b4daf4-9263-4fb6-bbdf-b29e7db63c41">misinterpreted</span> as <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="778753d7-82a6-4a35-91ba-eeb9d8dd1271" id="f12c7ef2-8bf5-434c-8b64-21fc50921f83"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c05993d5-3b30-4fd9-ba8c-76938a4198b3" id="04aa4129-1b8b-4015-b520-8ae0a4e83f49">skills</span></span> and gifts).
That's an odd role <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f5bdf1ec-efff-4ef7-9c4f-b656e928e5de" id="471bb2e8-41d1-4ffd-971b-51aac599155c">for</span> Jesus, but it seems to have survived thousands of years
of puzzled looks during children's sermons. A second traditional reading is
that God is the (evil, greedy, wicked) Master who does the judging, and who is
just as nasty in the end. Making God the "heavy" somehow doesn't feel
any better than making it Jesus, but there you are. The way that my pastors as
a child got around this was to ignore that the third servant got tossed into
outer darkness, and gave heroic examples of the first two for the non-squandering of their "talents."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps, instead, this is not an allegory. Perhaps Jesus was
simply saying that if you stand up and denounce an immoral, evil, system, you
may have to pay for it. Perhaps Jesus was saying that sometimes--like Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace (Daniel 1-3<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1aea858f-fd79-4a97-8637-022c0b577ce2" id="c76a1b31-7791-4c69-acb2-ef8350d2460b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2f72aeeb-d8c2-4f37-b139-6daf7c1a50e1" id="825dc05e-1a7b-451e-a489-efdc12271e66">)</span></span>--the right thing to do
is to offer up your life as a bulwark against injustice, even if it means
losing that life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps the message of the story is simply that the story is
true, and that if you don't like it, what are you going to do about it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
________________________________________<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[1] Flavius Josephus, <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c"></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cf6d47c9-620b-4704-8b58-c7f5bc2bfa66" id="7e7c0fb2-f360-4f9d-bd0d-eaf983e0721c">tr</span>. William Whiston, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Wars of The </i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i></i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Jews</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Book</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">,</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> 2, Chapter 17,
par. 6 (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm#link22HCH0017).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-small; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[2]
Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, <i>Social Science Commentary on the
Synoptic Gospels</i> (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), p. 149.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[3]
William Herzog, "The Vulnerability of the Whistleblower," <i>Parables as
Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed</i> (Westminster/John Knox:
1994), p<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7360f563-76d3-4a3d-b5a6-455be951affc" id="8a195366-bf30-4ea7-8359-fc4115e954c6"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8c53972e-da28-4e7a-9f7d-ab2c5f0b6448" id="fea6aea1-3ed9-4415-ba09-027780f76d4d">.</span></span>157-8.</span></div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-4924037790809616872014-10-17T06:11:00.002-04:002014-10-28T14:56:32.306-04:00Fr. Joe Mulligan to speak on Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUhJ2sbJ19XwyZL02dn7kFj82bzWIdKzb80ggVKradZp6bVWpKt6Gur2znhOkRW9ONi3q309mWb7yNRRWCuI08uo4uDswx6FQtZMTTBfVnTOx-j09AgjejyN8wVx_WjqOp3WR2PG4Uva0/s1600/mulligan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUhJ2sbJ19XwyZL02dn7kFj82bzWIdKzb80ggVKradZp6bVWpKt6Gur2znhOkRW9ONi3q309mWb7yNRRWCuI08uo4uDswx6FQtZMTTBfVnTOx-j09AgjejyN8wVx_WjqOp3WR2PG4Uva0/s1600/mulligan.jpg" /></a></div>
We are pleased to announce that Fr. Joe Mulligan, S.J. will be touring with Witness for Peace, from this Sunday, October 19th, through Thursday, October 23rd.<br />
<br />
Fr. Mulligan’s talk is: "Martyrdom of the Jesuits."<br />
<br />
A Jesuit priest originally from Detroit, Fr. Mulligan lives and works in Nicaragua with the Christian base communities. He is the author of <i>The Jesuit Martyrs of El Salvador: Celebrating the Anniversaries (1994/2010)</i>, about the six Jesuits and two women massacred at the University of Central America in 1989. His presentation will focus on the lessons of the martyrs and their relevance today.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/store/The_Jesuit_Martyrs_of_El_Salvador_Celebrating_the_Anniversaries" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://wipfandstock.com/images/bookImages/Large.9781608990566.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>(Click on cover to order)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Fr. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7be817a2-df50-4eb9-9bf4-082f09686d5c" id="8b536ee1-d2f6-44ef-9f63-dc725f044c7b">Mulligan</span> is a tireless advocate for peace and justice. He served three months in prison for protesting the US Army School of the Americas (WHINSEC) at Fort Benning, Georgia. He accompanied peace delegations to Palestine (Michigan Peace Team) and Paraguay (SOA Watch). He advocates <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d97cbdf5-074a-48fc-804a-a530fde7ae6d" id="0b0ea607-d4be-44fa-87df-9bdb2be516c9"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ce58a6a5-7c59-4132-8d5c-37910abab8ee" id="369f368b-f648-45af-96b1-63331a19382b">human</span></span> treatment of the Guantanamo detainees. He is on the Advisory Board of CLASA (James Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive) and has worked diligently to shed light on the mysterious disappearance of Fr. Carney in Honduras in 1983.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Companions-Jesus-Jesuit-Martyrs-Salvador/dp/0883446995/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413540185&sr=1-1&keywords=%22Companions+of+Jesus%22" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmikVHOQ5WMuFBVbTeUvc0loXk5NFy9asilSETBzvjkZdGrc_06FgiNxqguEqIZyOUPaKV0ycHjtj7I7ReIMwn5-GGX8cKw9WtIwbqw6p8y7XDrK-3voTqPke1ZB8wJupJrWP6aSJeOZUP/s1600/Companions+of+Jesus+Cover2.jpeg" height="200" width="130" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://smile.amazon.com/Companions-Jesus-Jesuit-Martyrs-Salvador/dp/0883446995/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413540185&sr=1-1&keywords=%22Companions+of+Jesus%22" target="_blank">(<i>Click on cover to order</i>)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fr. Mulligan, who has lived in Central America for 25 years, was a friend of the Salvadoran Jesuit martyrs and also of Padre Guadalupe (James Carney, SJ) who was martyred in Honduras in 1983. (For those of you who saw Padre Melo last year, Padre Guadalupe was also a close personal friend of Padre Melo and his father. Padre Melo was the person who got Padre Guatalupe’s memoirs to his family in the US after he was murdered, memoirs that became the book <i>To Be A Revolutionary</i>.)<br />
<br />
Come and join us for this compelling speaker!<br />
<br />
For more information, contact Susan Letendre, Regional Organizer<br />
<a href="mailto:wfpne@verizon.net">wfpne@verizon.net</a><br />
<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>SCHEDULE:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Sunday, October 19, 10 AM, Sermon, St. Ignatius Loyola Parish, 28 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA</li>
<li>Tuesday, October 21, 4:30 PM, presentation, Rehm Library, Smith Hall, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, MA</li>
<li>Wednesday, October 22, 12:30 PM, presentation, Blue Lounge, Worcester State University, 486 Chandler Street, Worcester, MA</li>
<li>Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 PM, presentation, Room 100, School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College (Brighton Campus), 9 Lake Street, Brighton, MA 02135</li>
<li>Thursday, October 23, 3:30 PM, Merrimack College, location to be announced, 315 Turnpike Street, North Andover, MA</li>
</ul>
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Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-49486601715352259062014-09-15T16:21:00.000-04:002014-09-15T16:21:16.088-04:00Ideology and Climate Change<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>f you’ve been watching this page, you know that this is the
second part of a larger post. My first post was a brief discussion of the
economist, David Ricardo and his views on the growth of inequality and how to
tax it back into balance. </div>
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<a href="http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608025016999021233&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608025016999021233&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0" height="200" width="200" /></a>If you read my post of a few days ago about the great
economist Ricardo and his argument for progressive taxation, this will be
something of a follow up to that. A “Part Two.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
He argued that since the amount of food-producing farmland in
England always stay more or less the same size, but the population would always
increase, then the <i>value</i> of land
would go up because of its relative scarcity. And one class of people would
become richer and richer, not because they created something or produced
something (at least something more than what they were already producing), but
simply because the demand for their product had gone up. And if this continues,
it would skew the economy and do damage to those who did not have access to this
resource. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So, he argued for something that we might call today a “Progressive
Tax,” that is, increase the taxes on land to keep the land owners’ income more
within the range of ordinary Brits. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This post today has some overlap with that, that’s why I am
considering it the second part of a two-part, longer essay. Recently (Friday,
September 13, 2014), Bill Moyers had on his show a climate scientist named
Katherine Hayhoe. When he asked her why it was that so many people simply
denied the science about climate change, she answered something like the
following, with my additions and commentary. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.minerva.unito.it/E/Images/Cartoons/climate-change-science-v-politics-cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.minerva.unito.it/E/Images/Cartoons/climate-change-science-v-politics-cartoon.jpg" height="246" width="320" /></a>She said that for Republicans (not to be confused with
“Conservatives,” who share some of the same positions, but who do not have the
restrictions of fund raising in influencing their opinions), there are two
conflicting problems. For one, they strongly believe (or must claim they
believe) that government is bad, and government programs do not work. That’s
not totally true, of course. Most modern day Republicans will support government funds for
the military and police and roads programs and a few other things. But generally speaking, as a broad
philosophical position, they are the first to say that government is the
problem (and the last to say that it is the solution) and that trust in the free market is the answer to most problems. On the other hand,
Climate Change is a huge and global threat like nothing we have ever seen
before. Left unchecked, it will destroy the globe and all of our children and
children’s children. And, perhaps more importantly, it is something that simply
cannot be addressed without massive government intervention. Your own personal
recycling simply will not get us there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So, how do they reconcile those two positions? They can’t
deny the existence of government. They can’t deny the fact that it will take a
major government action all over the planet to turn around the problem. So,
what they wind up doing is denying the existence of the problem. They continue
to claim that there is a debate about it when there actually is not, or that it’s
true, but humans did not exacerbate it (and it will go away) or that there is
nothing there at all and the problem is just a hoax. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/561*425/ows_139950568090504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/561*425/ows_139950568090504.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It’s a tragic paradox for them, but given the fact that they
<i>have</i> to be re-elected and they <i>have</i> to maintain their belief that
government cannot fix things, then they almost <i>have</i> to create this illusion that their denial of the science
somehow has some legitimacy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
She was also asked by Bill Moyers her thoughts on climate
science deniers “in the street.” She is a practicing Christian, so he put it
pointedly: why do Christians believe this in such large numbers?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Her first answer was that most people just don’t know the
research, but it was more complicated than that. People don’t have time to look
up Climate Change and study the issues. So, they make up their minds by
following people who they trust. And the guy (usually a guy) who they elected
into office is one of those. When they don’t know how to look into it on their
own, they trust their Congress person, and if he or she says there is no issue
there, then they feel like they have to agree. It’s not malicious, it’s just
the way that people have to be to make sense out of things that are above their
abilities (and time). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It may well be that one of the reasons why Democrats or
Liberals (also not always the same thing) tend to believe in the emerging
climate disaster is because they tend not to be afraid of government. Democrats
have historically had more trust in government programs, even while wanting to
question or change a few of them along the way. Their openness to government’s
abilities (admittedly spotty on occasion) allows them to look at the reality of
the gradually disintegrating climate more clearly. Not because they are
smarter, but because they are not hamstrung and held back by an anti-government
ideology. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The connection between this and the comment about Ricardo is that both
problems require government action (they can’t be fixed by waiting for the free
market to fix them) and both problems are denied either relevance or reality by modern day Republicans. If Hayhoe’s theory is correct, then today's Republicans simply cannot
admit to the reality of either problem—or for that matter <i>any</i> problem that requires government action. We <i>cannot</i> support any new government action
on anything, therefore we <i>cannot</i>
believe in any problem that is so large that it requires government action. Now, <i>that </i> is a problem that needs something other than Government help.</span></div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-75883882409715519642014-09-13T11:58:00.001-04:002014-09-13T15:11:28.785-04:00Ricardo and Progressive Taxation<span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span> have two observations about ideology and crisis. The first
one will be today and the second (or “Part Two?”) will be tomorrow. The first
is about wealth and income inequality and the second is about Climate Change. No
new ground being broken in either one, but just one observation that links the
two (and probably other problems) together.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://s23.postimage.org/nup3rm27v/David_Ricardo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://s23.postimage.org/nup3rm27v/David_Ricardo.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first has to do with the great Portuguese and British
economist, David Ricardo, who wrote in the late 18<sup><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="9cf79e46-5bc8-4743-83ed-69dd7fe7461b" id="ebc0932f-d051-4abc-a375-8924c02631c9">th</span></sup> <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7cb38721-2dbd-4d3c-bb59-2181cc5434e8" id="a1a843ae-81e1-4cf4-be8e-7e25244068d1">and</span> early 19<sup><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="0ddcea4f-1ad5-440b-9deb-6617bd164685" id="d4f63244-474f-4261-bbfc-3575c4d397ba">th</span></sup>
Century in England. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I confess that it’s been a long time since I have read Ricardo.
(In fact, probably since graduate school, but I won’t go look that up because
the embarrassment would be too high.) But I’m reading Thomas Piketty’s new book,
<i>Capital in the Twenty-First Century, </i>and
he makes an interesting observation about Ricardo, which I had totally missed
or forgotten. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of Ricardo’s important observations was that in England
in the 19<sup><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="59bea920-e6f8-469f-8eed-8ae75fb842ab" id="7579d130-1f45-40f2-90f1-5bc555382cd6">th</span></sup> Century, the population was going up and therefore
demand for food (etc.) was going up, but the amount of available farmland was
not. Therefore over time the value of farmland would feel more and more scarce,
relative to the hungry mouths that needed to be fed from it and its value (and
the wealth of its owners) would go up—way up. That’s usually called “Rent,” not
like the rent on a house<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f51b5d66-e037-4788-bd71-e4c6cae7fcf7" id="e94bd234-0ea6-4d53-80a4-e1dfbe8a3173"> ,</span> but the difference between the value of the rise of supply
relative to demand. That is, when your wealth goes up because there is more and
more demand for your product--even if you didn’t put in any new labor or effort
or costs--then that increase is your “rent.” And that was what was going on
with land owners when their land was becoming increasingly in demand. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He believed that this growing share of national income that
was going to the land owners and declining share that was going to poor people
who needed food, upset the national equilibrium. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="82f9d4d9-b918-4f3f-a59c-9d47151d7e9a" id="981ce4a0-9b31-4902-a3ac-530f37c1aaa5">Piketty</span>, commenting on this, says
that “For Ricardo, the only logically and politically acceptable answer
was to impose a steadily increasing tax on land rents.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
That is, Ricardo was proposing a progressive tax. The higher the wealth and
income of the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="77f7b1ed-bef1-452f-8975-29420e1db65e" id="3ff01168-728f-41f7-a6f2-cfc0c594308d">land-owners</span>, the higher should be their taxes because otherwise
they would skew the economy. In my childhood reading of Ricardo, I had missed
that. Unless I missed another great economist back there, he may be the first
political economist to raise the idea of a progressive tax, the kind of tax we
used to have in America, back when we believed that “all men (sic) were created
equal.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, as it happens, in the long run Ricardo was slightly wrong.
The value of rent on food-producing farmland did <i>not</i> actually continue to go up. Over time, the value of other
production in England (industrial products, for example) began to rise more
rapidly, making the value of farmland rise more slowly <i>relative </i>to these other items. But his main point, I believe, was
still accurate. When the “rent” (the non-labor-related income and wealth) rises
faster than the labor or production-related income and wealth, it throws off
the basic equilibrium of a society and causes dangerous inequality. And the
best (though clearly not only) way to stop it is by a graduated tax that keeps
that income and wealth closer to the center. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Check back tomorrow for part two.<br />
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>Capital</i>, p. 11.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-87712089808513527702014-07-31T10:53:00.001-04:002014-07-31T12:11:24.520-04:00Border crisis 101: eight things to know about unaccompanied children<i>A great brief run-through of some of the questions about the issue. Forward it around. More to come. </i><br />
<br />
<i>Christian Science Monitor</i><br />
JULY 10, 2014<br />
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0710/Border-crisis-101-eight-things-to-know-about-unaccompanied-children/What-is-an-unaccompanied-alien-child<br />
Linda Feldmann, Staff writer July 10, 2014<br />
<br />
<a href="http://47p4pr44wcef247sbt3bzhgpqn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/HUman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://47p4pr44wcef247sbt3bzhgpqn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/HUman.jpg" height="197" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;">S</span>ince last October, more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the US-Mexico border illegally – a surge that has taxed US resources. The White House says “most” of the children, many from Central America, will be deported. But is that realistic? What kind of rights do these children have?<br />
<br />
With the help of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, here’s a look at today’s immigration crisis and how it compares to the recent past.<br />
<br />
<b>1. What is an “unaccompanied alien child”?</b><br />
That’s a term used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to categorize many of the children who have flooded across the southern US border since last October. Many of them are in fact not alone, and some are even accompanied by a parent, but are classified as “unaccompanied alien children,” because of how they are processed.<br />
<br />
To avoid classification as “unaccompanied,” a child must prove that any accompanying adult is either a parent or guardian. DHS used to extend custody to close family members, like grandparents and adult siblings, but opted for a stricter definition in 2006. Even if an accompanying adult is confirmed to be a parent or guardian, that adult may be placed in detention as a criminal alien, separate from the child, and so the child becomes “unaccompanied.”<br />
<br />
Also, a lack of bed space may force a child’s adult <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="9e4c504c-a0b6-48c3-b26b-c743b5023373" id="9fed68f7-f26e-48c2-9db0-82701975082a">companion to</span> be housed in separate facilities, rendering the child “unaccompanied.”<br />
<br />
<b>2. What are the trends with unaccompanied children?</b><br />
In fiscal year 2013 – Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013 – 82 percent of the 47,000 children age 17 and under apprehended on the border were unaccompanied. Between FY 2009 and FY 2013, the number of apprehended unaccompanied children doubled. That number is on track to double again by the end of FY 2014.<br />
<br />
The absolute number of children being apprehended at the border is similar to that of the early-to-mid-2000s, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. But as a percentage of all apprehensions, the number has been rising. That figure ranged from 8 to 10 percent before the recession, but went up to 11 percent in FY 2013.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Where are these children from, and where are they going <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e8066391-db16-455b-acdd-7e26e28f53a2" id="59b00c9b-0318-4f07-805b-774065c6b2c9">on</span> the border?</b><br />
An unprecedented number <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5f3c72c4-ae33-43d0-97af-06cc1868aa7b" id="e6350fe7-a40e-447b-aa75-c511c3dd9bd4">are</span> now from Central America. In FY 2004, 83 percent were Mexican. So far in FY 2014, just 24 percent <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="04644c78-706f-46b3-8322-40caf7331538" id="86586770-3474-43a3-82af-d7986336acb4">were</span> from Mexico, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.<br />
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="34068f71-f9b0-4752-a910-a6972aead1c7" id="7ff772bf-a190-4498-823d-e9155b159c38">The biggest</span> flood of unaccompanied children has occurred in the Rio Grande<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="34068f71-f9b0-4752-a910-a6972aead1c7" id="908a5941-8038-44eb-ae05-295d8dea51e7">,</span>Texas, border sector. Between FY 2013 and 2014, about 93 percent of the increase in apprehensions has taken place there.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Why does country of origin matter?</b><br />
Mexican children can usually be deported easily. But children from Central America have additional rights, under a 2008 law during the Bush Administration, aimed at curbing child trafficking. The law grants children from countries that don’t border on the US (meaning Canada and Mexico), the right to formal removal hearings.<br />
<br />
The Department of Health and Human Services takes custody of these children and places some with sponsors. The number of migrant children in government custody has more than tripled between FY 2011 and FY 2013. That number is on pace to double again in FY 2014, overwhelming US facilities.<br />
<br />
<b>5. How old are these children, and how many get “relief” in the US?</b><br />
In FY 2013, 24 percent were 14 or younger when they arrived. That’s up from the 10 to 15 percent who were 14 or younger in FY 2007 and '08.<br />
<br />
In 2011, 42 percent of unaccompanied children in government custody were found “potentially eligible for relief” to remain in the US legally, according to a study by HHS’s Legal Access Project in partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice.<br />
<br />
<b>6. What kind of legal status can these children receive in the US?</b><br />
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e8e7854e-2beb-40df-9cbc-07c09a0d3e16" id="1333a398-e941-479f-a1d8-4b63a7090660"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5e922270-59df-4ff1-8110-33ef3ab0138e" id="165d2af7-ec7b-4c10-83cd-37c4eaf9f199">Of</span></span> 42 percent found eligible for relief in 2011, more than half were categorized under Special Immigrant Juveniles Status, which is aimed at foreign children in the US who have been abused, abandoned, or neglected. Children who get a green card through this program can live and work permanently in the United States, but they can never petition for a green card for their parents. They also cannot petition for a green card for any siblings until they become a US citizen. <br />
Children can also stay in the US if they can show that they may be persecuted or tortured if they return home. One such form of relief is <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="60c5d72e-d743-43ab-998e-551726bdd0e6" id="ab4c855c-bf08-4c17-a877-a032c7442840">asylum</span>, as defined under international refugee conventions. Another protection is called “withholding,” which is for people not eligible for asylum, but who still may be subject to harm in their home country.<br />
Other protections exist for children who are victims of human trafficking or criminal activity.<br />
<br />
<b>7. What percentage of children fail to appear in court?</b><br />
Specific figures for unaccompanied children are unavailable, according to the Legal Access Project. But children who are placed with a sponsor and leave government custody have more opportunity to skip their court appearance. Statistics from the Executive Office of Immigration Review Show that 20 to 30 percent of all immigrants failed to appear in court between 2008 and 2012.<br />
Juan Osuna, director of the Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review, told a Senate panel on Wednesday that "46 percent of juveniles actually don't show up before their immigration hearings."<br />
<br />
<b>8. What’s behind the flood of unaccompanied children?</b><br />
Analysts cite many factors:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Increasing drug and gang violence in the “sending countries.” The three major “sending” countries (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala) are among the five most violent countries of the world (Honduras is the <i>most </i>violent). </li>
<li>The Obama administration’s policy of not deporting young undocumented people who arrived as children (see no. 3, below).</li>
<li>False rumors about that policy spread by human traffickers to desperate, often illiterate, families, that <i>all </i>children, whether accompanied or not, would be given citizenship if they made it to the border. (In fact, both the law and the executive order applied only to children brought here accompanied by a parent or guardian, and only applied to children brought here before 2007.)</li>
<li>The 2008 Bush-era law saying that children coming from countries other than Mexico or Canada had to go through a special (and lengthy) court process before being deported or assimilated. That backlogged the process when the surge began. </li>
<li>Family reunification. Many of the children already had a family member who had gone ahead of them. The parents in the sending countries frequently hoped that the settled relative could take them in and save them from the violence at home.</li>
<li>The (again, falsely promoted) prospect (very unlikely in reality) that Congress would eventually legislate a path to citizenship for those who made it to the country illegally.</li>
</ol>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-16073282817594088952014-06-28T12:56:00.001-04:002014-09-08T20:37:51.842-04:00“Do Not Lay Your Hand on the Boy"<h2 style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Proper 8, Year A</span></h2>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Genesis 22:1-18</span></h2>
<br />
<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">T</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">his is an enormously complicated and difficult and even painful passage. It has been the subject of contentious debated since forever, perhaps <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7671a266-eb62-47d9-9947-a31571591a0d" id="fcb35dfb-93a1-4d80-ba1d-bea5149524c8"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fff9a997-553a-49cc-8fbb-eace9dc8c674" id="ced1566c-1003-422d-b951-d1a8a6a6fb42">from</span></span> the first time that anyone passed it down from one generation to the next. In terms of preaching and teaching, there are usually three fairly consistent popular interpretations of it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>First</b> is the one
on its face. Abraham is tempted by God to see how faithful he would be. To see
if he would be willing to sacrifice everything, including his own son and the
promise of descendant blessings in order to obey God. This is the one most
commonly used by preachers. Brueggemann stresses this point in his <i>Interpretation: Genesis </i>commentary. William
Willimon followed this thinking in an old 2002 <i>Pulpit Resource </i>article<i>.</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The second</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> is that the story was
constructed by the Elohist writer to help combat the child sacrifice of his
time. Child sacrifice was found in Judah during the time in which the Elohist
was writing (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6 (“He made his son pass through fire”); 23:10
(“He defiled Topheth<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3e57c8e2-19b2-41c3-9779-251359815f95" id="5b694c41-868d-42f3-8b35-74206ae8034d"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="db92155d-74c7-4b66-8ff5-9a9b8b8bcbc0" id="67a6ca8f-174f-4d00-ab28-2ce3e4584510">…</span></span>so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through
fire as an offering to Molech); Jer. 19:4,5 (“Because the people have<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="83fe8e55-8faf-41f2-bc2d-6ebf8a3881ca" id="feb1552c-6150-446a-81e3-6ddab0f008bc"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c7e33126-835b-43db-a0bf-bb9c1b359da1" id="1e1d3cf4-53f9-4e18-a2d4-354cb1bd375a">…</span></span>filled
this place with the blood of the innocent, <sup>5</sup> <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="83dd6399-945c-4dfb-99d4-bac21a74c582" id="6bc0d84c-b0e1-4852-a09c-afedba3bdcc2"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ba28d19d-f2a8-4aea-8ccb-fea403efd315" id="7f21f060-e5cf-4993-b8a9-cdcb21b6a786">and</span></span> gone on building
the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings
to Baal, which I did not command or decree,…<sup>6 </sup>Therefore…”). The
so-called “Covenant Code” allows for the first born child to be “given” to the
deity just as the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="794a6416-ce25-47ff-b8d5-f049da299765" id="d9f5a7c6-cce8-4403-9ecf-0325cf722a48"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ce699527-f401-4020-935a-85ae2eee69fd" id="47515422-dcb4-4a6c-a4e5-d93ffeee7ab2">first born</span></span> animal was given. Cf. Exodus 22:29-30, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-left: .2in;">
“You shall not delay to make
offerings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your
presses. <i>The firstborn of your sons you
shall give to me. </i><sup>30</sup>You shall do the same with your oxen and
with your sheep: seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the eighth day
you shall give it to me.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So
the theory was that the Abraham and Isaac story was written to help overcome
child sacrifices in ancient <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
during the divided monarchy, when “E” was <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="bce0efba-2402-45ee-9912-d075f9f7ca5e" id="abfedb5e-c20b-4b85-8f1a-05a65f638771"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5fc3cb88-a69e-40e0-8a2e-a09f53f113e1" id="c2df3bb1-9ad8-4d54-9616-ed94d90cb90d">writing</span></span>. And it’s true that
subsequent ancient legislation contained clauses which provided for the replacement
of a potential child sacrifice with an animal (such as a “ram”). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="baa2248e-bad4-4c2c-9e77-4e09cf33ba8b" id="88576b17-26ec-4588-96ae-9ad4d5a234d7"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8ed2134f-189a-4372-ac52-d05a309b3db9" id="8793c51e-3b1a-4c73-8842-a9cbf26d7c08">See for</span></span> example, Exodus 13:13-16: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyTextIndent">
“But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a
sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. <i>Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem</i>. <sup>14</sup>When
in the future your child <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="a3e447f8-ea74-433b-bfe6-ec0b3949fd87" id="2f43d570-8ad6-4f8d-a7fb-3327382428c2"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c5ffcb68-ffaf-4b0a-bb1d-0ae6e0fe22f0" id="03fca447-baae-40a1-a8b3-10c2518782ed">asks</span></span> you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall answer, ‘By
strength of hand the L<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span>
brought us out of <st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place>,
from the house of slavery. <sup>15</sup>When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let
us go, the L<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span>
killed all the firstborn in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">land</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Egypt</st1:placename></st1:place>, from <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6167901c-1f98-4412-9b04-dc3dc0bef4e8" id="17bc7389-9c92-4d52-8c6b-1f33b066ac90"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="98c67669-4c9a-4e27-bc72-cd58ca83409a" id="d08448cc-abdd-4af1-849f-7b18dafc28cd">human
firstborn</span></span> to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the L<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span> every male that
first opens the womb, but <i>every firstborn
of my sons I redeem.</i>’ <sup>16</sup>It shall serve as a sign on your hand
and as an emblem on your forehead that by strength of hand the L<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">ORD</span> brought us out of <st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“So,
it is possible that the E story, in which Abraham, the father of the people,
with whom the descendants feel corporate responsibility, was meant to dramatize
the deity’s demand for the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="712d1f44-6888-4772-abc1-99ebd8f7b252" id="e6b8cc23-aefc-46b7-96c7-adfdcf6d443f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="55c328e2-4f12-40f6-9f44-d19d6b5fb0b9" id="49f72190-d32b-4090-90f3-0bfbf5653ecc">substitutionary</span></span> practice, and was one of the factors
which brought about <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="712d1f44-6888-4772-abc1-99ebd8f7b252" id="4a4473c2-c9e7-4b2b-8117-a886d72bcf20"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="55c328e2-4f12-40f6-9f44-d19d6b5fb0b9" id="d8aa3729-b120-443a-beb3-9537fd628d5b">cultic</span></span> reform and the abandonment of human sacrifice. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The
biblical prophets and the laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus expressly forbid
this practice, but that fact also implies strongly that it continued to occur.
In fact, the story of Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac suggests that Abraham
was familiar with human sacrifice. He knew how to do it, and he was not surprised
by Yahweh’s demand.” <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><sup><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[a]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></sup></a> </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The third</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b>interpretation</b> is that Abraham knew all the time that God was just
testing him and there was really nothing particularly scary about the story. He
was going along with it because he knew that God would never make him actually
do it. The story of “faith” in this version is that he had enough faith in God
to know that God wouldn’t actually do it (or, better, allow Abraham to do it). I
personally think this is bunk. It’s demeaning and detracts from the pain the
author or the real life participants went through in the story. However, I
have, and I’m sure everyone has, heard a sermon on this text using this theme. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A fourth possibility</span></b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> is from Michael Lerner,
which repeats some ancient thinking of the rabbis on the story. In it Abraham
is internally torn because of things that had happened to him by his father in
his own youth and he was repeating down to his child the habits and demonic
voices of that pain. “The real task,” says Lerner, following this
interpretation, “was for him to be able to separate out the voices within him
and discern the voice of the one true God from the gods of the pain and
destruction of his childhood.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What
follows is the gist of my sermon, based roughly on Lerner’s theory, but I’m not
altogether happy with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>SO WHAT <i>DOES </i>IT MEAN?<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
story is basically from the Elohist, though there is some confusion over the
use of the name </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">YHWH</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> (Yahweh) at vv. 11, 14, and
16. Some believe that vv. 14-18 are insertions from the hand of the Yahwist.
But that doesn’t explain the first use of </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">YHWH </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="85090993-db2e-4fe7-ad63-217bb93f72e1" id="c31d3aeb-7282-4b36-b21e-68a31bdf9010"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="57b90c35-70c7-4fea-8a30-013f3df0e43d" id="4dbd2658-f5ff-411f-88bc-fbd0747cff5e">at v</span></span>. 11, where the angel of the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fe7652dd-05ee-4862-8d8c-4db3bf662697" id="d72233e4-c7be-49ea-9f06-e712ebde165e"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d51652c9-6513-4d2b-b798-c542eaf8679c" id="cefb936d-1223-4d6a-840e-7f3b9df54926">lord</span></span> comes to
Abraham again and tells him not to sacrifice Isaac. The insertions appear
purposeful, and appear to make a statement. My guess is that it probably has to
do with the primacy of Yahwist religion over Elohist religion. Exactly what is
the key question of the passage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Michael
Lerner, in “Cruelty Is Not Destiny: Abraham and the Psychodynamics of
Childhood” (<i>Tikkun</i>, n.d., p. 33 ff.)
argues that Abraham is a man wracked with conflict over abuses in his own
childhood, stories of which Lerner finds in <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="39d526e2-21fa-4403-b696-71820d505a05" id="47c6ffb6-09ed-49a3-88f6-36367bce1c3c"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b62b801b-e79b-4e40-9b97-a757b6f4942c" id="71906979-65f0-4477-8f77-6526e211fcab">early Rabbinic midrash</span></span> on this
passage. Abraham, according to the stories, grew up as a monotheist in a
typically polytheistic society. His father was a maker of idols <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c494b9f6-413f-4682-a0f5-61c088ef984b" id="94edfc1a-8cef-4d8f-a28a-8b2dab6a02f6"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3fe41ca-3cbe-4fa0-afa5-9430c5a33c4f" id="df1e5ecb-7a9e-486e-bf3f-3e25cb1ef955">for</span></span> the
culture, and Abraham early on realized how <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c494b9f6-413f-4682-a0f5-61c088ef984b" id="99de3f01-645f-48e8-bfd8-b391349f6144"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f3fe41ca-3cbe-4fa0-afa5-9430c5a33c4f" id="36db02f9-570d-4a26-b7a4-75cac026e634">useless they</span></span> were for helping crops
or love lives. In a very revealing story, <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="9ee858ed-384a-40b6-a05e-fe434bf2765d" id="3e6d6e4b-b979-4dc6-9c66-8659bfb35786"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e9ed6631-caae-44c3-ba47-445bcb373bfa" id="4bff7a77-c6cd-44d0-9d66-abbe84dd2e70">once Abraham’s father</span></span> went away for a
while and left Abraham to sell the idols by himself. “A man came and wished to
buy one. ‘How old are you”’ Abraham asked him. ‘Fifty years,’ was the reply.
‘Woe to such a man!’ he exclaimed, ‘you are fifty years old and would <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="29fc1775-fb11-4e8e-9e40-168fbc0481c4" id="1e07efac-e6e7-4984-b073-f98bcb30af54"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5d82415c-d168-44c4-b7a8-88f8a98158d7" id="f710b13c-775b-4b78-8a31-f04ff5e46e32">worship a</span></span>
day-old-object!’ At this the man became ashamed and departed.” (p. 33).
According to the story, these exchanges continued, and finally the father, who
made his living supporting these <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="36721faf-f9e9-460c-ac35-dee1af5cd82f" id="03c4db7e-268c-47f0-ab0a-e2b3dda4ca97"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f9f3a007-ca2a-485f-b3eb-c92f57e9cbd1" id="d79e99af-9169-474a-bd0c-114f73364587">idols</span></span>, turned Abraham over to the king, who tortured
him to make him believe in the idols, and threw him into a fiery furnace.
Abraham does not die from the occasion, but he comes out scarred both
externally, and internally. His internal burns are probably deeper and more
dangerous than his external ones. He never again lives in his father’s house,
and eventually, when his father dies, he leaves the country altogether and
travels north to <st1:place w:st="on">Canaan</st1:place> becoming a wandering
nomad. The root definition of the word <i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ed78dbf5-ffec-4b14-8910-008c0f1c0b39" id="8679896c-d965-48d4-92e9-ec44c8ab1093"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="24aaccaa-5713-4487-9920-2e5b3c05a931" id="041b2ace-1ecd-496c-93a9-aa1d5c8c228b">ivri</span></span>,</i>
which we translate as “Hebrew,” is one who crosses boundaries, who is rootless.
It is to this troubled, boundary crossing, contradictory, sometimes violent, unhealed
monotheist that God finally comes and chooses as the beginning of his new religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="WordSection2">
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In
the Abraham and Isaac <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8057b64f-23bc-4df5-817d-aaa69cc76175" id="b4bf9883-7b66-434d-9d49-6c2bed3083be"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ec794c2e-84a4-4007-8a4d-a41565e61e8c" id="8a4e4f0e-9737-4b82-b07c-285b0fd23f36">story then</span></span>, according to this interpretation, Abraham is
a victim of “repetition compulsion,” a Freudian term which means he is
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8057b64f-23bc-4df5-817d-aaa69cc76175" id="86ec6b86-06b2-4196-941a-c0ea2777f991"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ec794c2e-84a4-4007-8a4d-a41565e61e8c" id="e6480786-df11-47f7-90fa-52210d9c970d">repeating</span></span> on his son the same horror he experienced by his father (remember
“Corporate personality”? We pass it all down to our kids). The Rabbis theorized
that the first message that Abraham receives in v. 1, is from Elohim, the many
raging internal gods which tell him that he has done despicable things in the
way he has treated Hagar, his wife, his child Ishmael, and deserves not to have
the blessing of God, and now the best way to get out of the pain is to destroy
the promise, to kill the child of laughter. He, Abraham, is a child of
violence, and unable to deal with the world without violence, and now in his
despair and misery with his life, he resorts to end everything with violence.
The voice he hears from the beginning is the voice of the pain of his <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1c727d24-63d3-45c5-aac2-09382ba209c2" id="4db8973e-8b01-4150-aaa1-7a0a0f77cffb"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="4ea88d3c-035d-4249-be8b-e245b7c12e43" id="4754d75d-e277-4eb0-a461-959ed1facbc4">childhood
which</span></span> he projected into the voice of God, telling him to do to his own son what
was done to him. As he was thrown into the fire, so he will pass the pain on to
his own beloved. “Take your son, your only son, the one whom you love, Isaac,
and offer him in burnt offering.…” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">All
of us do this. We act out of the fundamental traumas of our childhood. There is
something about doing the things that were done to us as kids that somehow
makes us think we can master them, or have control over them. In childhood
events in which we were powerless or victimized, we attempt right <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f6bd305e-d61f-4f73-a35b-1dada93f8613" id="99e39b09-f773-4d62-a089-48e685873294"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5f125403-ae0e-4f47-867f-286835b273c6" id="58d2d00a-fdfe-4d09-a57b-eb6470fdfb94">ourselves as</span></span>
adults by repeating the sin on someone else. (“The parents have eaten sour
grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” [Jeremiah 31:29]). We pass
down or pain to our offspring as a prize f their inheritance. Then they despise
us for it and pass it down to their offspring. All but a few of us hated
something in our parents. And all but a few of us who have children have
something in us that we have blotted them with that came from our childhoods
and which they hate within us. We should put our wounds in our wills, for that
is the largest thing that people inherit from us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Whoever
inserted “Yahweh” as the speaker in the second message, v. 11, intended it to
be a different voice than the first. Lerner, following the Rabbis, believes
that it was intended to represent a word that is truly from God. The task
(“test”?) of Abraham was not that he was willing to take his son Isaac to a mountain
and sacrifice him to God. The real task was for him to be able to separate out
the voices within him and discern the voice of the one true God from the gods
of the pain and destruction of his childhood. To separate out the voices of the
gods of humiliation, and defeat, and abuse, and <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e6c673a6-0940-47d4-a72e-2bf87501a70f" id="6b058b61-ab93-4e0f-97ea-f3b0bae10270"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="bd9c5af8-39ed-4e21-8e58-f44bf8f30ada" id="a73b91d1-512c-42a2-9153-51a23c1416c3">unlove</span></span>, and to hear instead the
voice of the God of the Covenant and the gift and the laughter, and the God who
gives sight and vision to see the resources what will rescue us. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="59d6b1c7-f85d-401d-9bb6-93461dc79467" id="d62f0d22-b589-409c-8d62-d31192a93900"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="47d8d35f-fd46-480d-a6e4-4ebc53372d62" id="c3aab31c-c3b4-44ba-8f8c-5d9e0f29efd2">the</span></span> greatness
of Abraham is not that he was tough enough to obey a God’s command to kill his
own son; the greatness of Abraham is that he didn’t go through with it! “At
that very last moment, Abraham hears the true voice of God, the voice that
says, ‘Don’t send your hand onto the youth and don’t make any blemish.’”
(Lerner) Don’t do it, God says, you don’t have to do it. You do not have to
hurt others to get over your own hurts. You do not have to damage others to get
over your own buried sense of <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e22330ae-e45c-441a-ae15-2447cd88ab3a" id="dfbff108-cfa4-4681-8d5e-2306bbb78b2f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e532cb72-9123-4f74-8de9-d69b358612c2" id="625b0bd3-ded3-4054-8d9a-742daf9081a3">damage</span></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
distinction of the voices is that the first one is plural, “the gods.” The many
voices that Paul speaks of that torture us with threats and challenges. The
second is </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">YHWH</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">, the one voice, the one
God. The God who says the chain of pain can be broken, <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="27703a38-6848-48bf-b421-39d0e6cb0fd7" id="b0c51cbf-9dd6-44da-84c9-9ee278433c4d"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2c1ce726-17a6-4008-83e9-b6c75a52c5fe" id="63f08c80-768d-4284-8c9e-63076e857391">who</span></span> the God of the redemption
and liberation of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Note that Jews read this story every year at Rosh Ha
Shanah, the traditional time of atonement. It is the time when that which has
been in our lives does not ultimately and completely have to bind us, limit us,
make us less than we could be and should be. If Abraham can transcend the
voices of his childhood, the ceremony says, then so can we.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Genesis 22:1-18<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">fter these things<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6f2ecac7-a7c8-427f-83d9-09b95c8b87be" id="877bf695-087d-40fe-bf18-25cc630bb4ea"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="256472e6-0d10-466a-bca2-3b88123a0ce9" id="e17f1a62-b586-42ff-a634-41aede948cc9">[</span></span>2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
God<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6f2ecac7-a7c8-427f-83d9-09b95c8b87be" id="43588153-02e7-43f5-ac22-67c9eb4c774a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="256472e6-0d10-466a-bca2-3b88123a0ce9" id="51c26eb0-43e7-4ee0-bb4d-2e9423c442f8">[</span></span>3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
tested<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6f2ecac7-a7c8-427f-83d9-09b95c8b87be" id="109cfeb9-682a-42b2-b5a5-b070998728c0"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="256472e6-0d10-466a-bca2-3b88123a0ce9" id="767e209b-d03a-41a1-9810-f4bd7391f6bc">[</span></span>4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Abraham<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6f2ecac7-a7c8-427f-83d9-09b95c8b87be" id="01ba3bb4-08c7-48f4-bc40-c3a65e3d110a"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="256472e6-0d10-466a-bca2-3b88123a0ce9" id="98083379-990a-4eb0-bfdd-04f71ff76ada">.</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<sup>2 </sup>He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="94a8da09-fc72-4739-bce6-cb0008e53b09" id="3d3ac6a7-f06e-4a9c-8b55-ec107be35ab8"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="86b3c93f-e3da-4fe1-8ebe-6de059b3d826" id="75748f40-e1f8-4880-925a-0290d746025c">,</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and go to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">land</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Moriah</st1:placename></st1:place><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="94a8da09-fc72-4739-bce6-cb0008e53b09" id="8936aa88-1532-4169-a7ff-23c3b40a0193"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="86b3c93f-e3da-4fe1-8ebe-6de059b3d826" id="c0a14313-a74f-48a3-b6b5-8e815ae756ed">,</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall
show you.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">3 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So Abraham rose early in the
morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his
son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the
place in the distance that God had shown him. <sup>4</sup>On the third day
Abraham looked up and saw<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="becef645-4294-4779-9b69-922d4a1efe2e" id="7a55a3f4-6f06-4d97-a8e3-d92c37b4bebc"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="353e9c95-0468-4893-88a3-e590d62baf6e" id="0dc97025-8b62-40cf-abbe-ba9fc5e5a04c">[</span></span>10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
the place far away. <sup>5</sup> Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here
with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3b39e117-becf-4ba4-9ec6-c2dd43b2be1e" id="09370173-f558-46c3-8856-9d71edd14272"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5233431a-f186-4cfa-9b1e-9fbfdc602816" id="38f88ac1-9bc7-4445-96d0-0fe28f1c1de0">;</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” <sup>6</sup>Abraham took
the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself
carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. <sup>7</sup>Isaac
said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He
said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <sup>8</sup>Abraham
said, “God himself will provide<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b18ff510-9c1f-4efb-820f-bc42b6ed9dc4" id="381114bf-2829-4996-8b5d-a90919770dab"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7124f3ea-2902-4343-9729-feeb1eb594af" id="70df35a1-b74a-41b2-9ad9-258b40ce4a46">[</span></span>13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .2in;">
<sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">9 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">When they came to the place
that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in
order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. <sup>10</sup>Then
Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7dbff9cf-aa48-497f-9bbb-dbfacd231d5a" id="ef9808b8-4ba9-4d15-be53-eacdc2e286e5"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ab538933-bbf4-4099-aad1-c175548d33f3" id="f1e47183-b60c-48cd-ba76-79cfea870f27">[</span></span>14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
his son. <sup>11</sup> But the angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">L</span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; font-variant: small-caps; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="baf7636d-b2b7-4ac0-ad98-66313a9635b6" id="643a3b7e-750d-40eb-a054-4eba8262cad1"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="885b0b87-0435-47ec-bd0c-6e20e2128c32" id="2ff7617a-dd52-4a2e-93e7-af7bb8ba441b">[</span></span>15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> called to him from heaven,
and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<sup>12</sup> He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him;
for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your
only son, from me.” <sup>13</sup> And Abraham looked up and saw<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1822fda3-863b-44a7-9000-fd5a15308372" id="c32ee5cf-a2ab-4548-85b0-d208bd947273"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6be40cfc-bd16-4e03-85b5-71b8fe0ee52b" id="b677ce74-90ab-4680-999e-bccbdff65d03">[</span></span>17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and
offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. <sup>14</sup> So Abraham
called that place “The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">L</span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> will provide”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>;
as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">L</span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> it shall be provided.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .2in;">
<sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">15 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The angel of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">L</span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">ord<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="57ae879f-9c74-496c-b159-1b7b21c45ced" id="2b1132a9-1d55-4bbc-beab-368d6e6a0fdf"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e7fbc311-6e6a-481c-82bc-0daf99f8b649" id="be641c14-b1e8-4f32-b740-d78a8032c743">[</span></span>20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> called to Abraham a second
time from heaven, <sup>16</sup> <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="56d64932-14bc-4201-8aa6-f84bb8d2e09d" id="8832b59f-4dc9-46b6-8455-d95de2621992"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6ca11533-cd35-4903-8ad9-ca750acef088" id="fc60aa4c-a770-4ba6-8db6-929e0accd5ee">and</span></span> said, “By <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="56d64932-14bc-4201-8aa6-f84bb8d2e09d" id="d3657789-60b1-4fe6-a08e-08372d3a3af5"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6ca11533-cd35-4903-8ad9-ca750acef088" id="9afa64d8-9f00-46eb-9bdb-a87e7663575f">myself I</span></span> have sworn, says the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>: Because you have done this, and
have not withheld your son, your only son, <sup>17</sup> I will indeed bless
you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as
the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of
their enemies, <sup>18</sup> <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2254f020-6f70-454d-b962-159003e41259" id="07f9cbec-902f-4b78-9dc5-d831376faf3e"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="0d2bb579-7f27-4104-9910-75deb032c1ee" id="21f96dd5-b7ad-49fa-809f-84f2f2387d3b">and</span></span> by your offspring shall all the nations of the
earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<sup>19</sup>So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went
together to Beer-<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2d9adf73-9cee-47cd-a2dd-28e66d21328d" id="dededbd9-632f-4e14-add4-833c7908011b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="25f4cc8c-2ee1-4368-ad7e-d9aca813e109" id="ed6d004d-19ce-42a6-ad64-43821588969a">sheba</span></span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2d9adf73-9cee-47cd-a2dd-28e66d21328d" id="e755fcbb-c6ac-43a9-8fd0-b27e676ef6f0"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="25f4cc8c-2ee1-4368-ad7e-d9aca813e109" id="2e91a6c7-2e48-4861-8c11-d9bfe4a287e4">;</span></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: KO;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
and Abraham lived at Beer-<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2d9adf73-9cee-47cd-a2dd-28e66d21328d" id="efee0c4f-e670-49e7-a4ee-3db70b39f04c"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="25f4cc8c-2ee1-4368-ad7e-d9aca813e109" id="28cea3ec-8b33-4ef8-ab6c-0084389de358">sheba</span></span>.<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<br />
<div>
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<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><sup><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[a]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></sup></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Victor <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="bb12121a-6d0e-45d6-87f2-6b0d27346c10" id="d5a9a926-d587-49f9-b3f2-939817d27d06"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="420ea142-35f2-4a08-ae05-d2cd01c662a8" id="c1998472-aac9-4b52-b7db-797d05745ffe">harold</span></span> Matthews, Mark W. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="4bca7292-c5d6-46cb-8a60-016255f40b5b" id="7327b204-2b4d-4dc5-aa82-f2418a7629af"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2e5cbe0c-7526-4ee8-8e8c-826c7984c5f9" id="67c4b3ec-af29-4da9-9592-424caf175189">Chavalas</span></span> and John H.
Walton, <i>The IVP Bible Background Commentary<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f752ce47-1de9-4358-8caf-214d5b0a328c" id="45d57af2-bb3f-48c1-9141-69d48fed41e1"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="99d44dcf-f7db-4d7d-926b-7205886e8723" id="434a4eaf-0299-4848-8de8-d11989d5b90b"> :</span></span> Old Testament</i> (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Downers Grove</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">IL</st1:state></st1:place>:
InterVarsity Press, 2000).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “After these things”: A conventional opening
to a new section, meaning <i>sometime afterwards</i>. See also <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+15%3A1"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">15:1</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+22%3A20"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">22:20</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+39%3A7"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">39:7</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+40%3A1"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">40:1</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “God” (’<i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="27fa1fd5-9463-4bcf-bc0f-2648f7db4567" id="ade53ae2-40ef-411c-ae08-c2ab3c1d518b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="422b6d7b-0170-4ba2-84b3-c49079ccf540" id="0d1c0d3a-e93c-40f1-966f-9b197fa518c4">elohim</span></span></i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="27fa1fd5-9463-4bcf-bc0f-2648f7db4567" id="1cb584cf-4142-40d6-bfa6-5b53cc85ae2d"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="422b6d7b-0170-4ba2-84b3-c49079ccf540" id="3e9d260e-53c7-4007-915c-58910d6d28d7">
)</span></span> Plural of <i>'<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="27fa1fd5-9463-4bcf-bc0f-2648f7db4567" id="2b5aa5c8-80fa-4436-bde7-8e304a39a128"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="422b6d7b-0170-4ba2-84b3-c49079ccf540" id="b53aabf9-65d8-4ae9-97e9-7ffe3a752a89">elowahh</span></span></i>, deity in
general, or <i>the</i> Deity. In the
ordinary sense it means “gods,” but usually used (when plural) of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;"> “Test” (</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">נסה</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="LTR"></span> nâsâh) </span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE;">verb, <i>to test, try, prove, tempt, assay, put to the proof or test</i> (BDB
Dictionary). “</span><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">Testing, however, does not
always suggest tempting or enticing someone to sin, as when the Queen of Sheba
tested Solomon’s wisdom (1Ki. 10:1; 2Ch. 9:1); and Daniel’s physical appearance
was tested after a ten-day vegetarian diet (Dan. 1:12, Dan. 1:14)…<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b2acf868-1e2a-43d9-b6ae-10e173c172a1" id="817e81b9-d2b9-4534-bab9-d1bbb8974455"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f4b8b56e-c880-4b1f-86c9-ed77ef69a0b8" id="4c9c0736-4a30-4828-beb5-332ae25eb9bc">.</span></span>can refer to
the testing of equipment, such as swords or armor (1Sa. 17:39)” (<i>The Complete Word Study Dictionary</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;">“In most contexts <i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c6aa37c7-e4dd-4431-8321-5cda90b706ef" id="adcf8803-b8d8-425c-bbfe-d3ec41b8c712"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="bed7fb23-ea31-482a-81ce-272d3dda9901" id="4bcfedc2-7d6f-46ec-9dcf-11de4dffe327">nasa</span></span></i>
has the idea of testing or proving the quality of someone or something, often
through adversity or hardship. The rendering ‘tempt’<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f095e904-751c-46ab-b7f0-3b44c9607f21" id="56ce6f59-2e2e-460b-b1bc-2efed4d199ce"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2602737d-e299-4556-9ffb-abe8769743b3" id="d9aeed8d-d5ba-4cb2-9de7-b81933b00bbc">…</span></span>generally means prove,
test, put to the test, rather than the current English idea of “entice to do
wrong.” In a number of passages <i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f095e904-751c-46ab-b7f0-3b44c9607f21" id="d5dd9076-c132-4536-8dc2-3a624a52b8f2"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2602737d-e299-4556-9ffb-abe8769743b3" id="3a87b93e-dcb9-4017-a150-0c9021427e1a">nasa</span></span></i>
means to attempt to do something. It is used of attempting or venturing a word
which might offend the hearer (Job. 4:2), of venturing to touch one’s foot to
the ground (Deu. 28:56), and of trying to take a nation (Israel) from another
nation (Egypt) (Deu. 4:34)…<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6dd2e303-3650-4dab-9a06-e4bbb9357d06" id="71ea3352-a159-4f4f-8395-afa2d160c907"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7053c54d-3ed2-429c-b0cc-6ba4e60e3733" id="75ea36b0-7549-4c69-a529-0653c16058b5">.</span></span>The largest number of references, however, deal
with situations where a person or a nation is undergoing a trial or difficult
time brought about by another. Though man is forbidden to put God to the test
(Deu. 6:16), the OT records that he did so. The <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b1669aaf-c845-438c-89d1-7430d6d7795d" id="5bea6f80-58d0-46ca-a22c-5bbb4017be35"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2262452d-ec6c-4938-a95a-7eea60eaed29" id="c9a0849e-4d84-4396-bd59-09b3d569e680">wilderness</span></span> place of Massah (“trial”)
becomes a byword in this regard, often combined <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b1669aaf-c845-438c-89d1-7430d6d7795d" id="67bd53e6-12ba-4c26-886e-ebb536c3b3be"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2262452d-ec6c-4938-a95a-7eea60eaed29" id="5a6d4a7d-db22-488a-9fcf-18f0d1cda7b0">in</span></span> a play on words with <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b1669aaf-c845-438c-89d1-7430d6d7795d" id="6fea3a92-71d0-4f16-8d46-795677e22a58"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2262452d-ec6c-4938-a95a-7eea60eaed29" id="c5b2fdeb-69d9-48f0-8cf4-c306704505f6">nasa</span></span>,
“to try” (Exo. 17:2, Exo. 17:7; Deu. 6:16; Deu. 33:8; Psa. 95:8, Psa. 95:9; cf.
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5ad1e773-d5ac-4c68-a035-463a86c38513" id="6e617679-4213-4609-b501-104fe31ca979"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="762fcf58-6063-40fd-b98d-c02c2a876dbf" id="daff0914-7efa-4acc-a87c-d1e518dfb717">Deu</span></span>. 9:22). Those who put God to the proof in the wilderness would not see <st1:place w:st="on">Canaan</st1:place> (<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5f31bc42-4e9a-4940-a09d-603d547f558e" id="1e3e692e-f529-4439-8cb4-08d380ea3266"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fec36efd-3f37-4723-a347-6e90fa8e1358" id="7146c949-90b0-4be2-be71-8e6f1eeaedb9">Num</span></span>. 14:22-23). The hymns of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> reflect
this defiant attitude (see Psa. 78:18, Psa. 78:41, Psa. 78:56; Psa. 106:14)” (<i>Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “God tested Abraham”: Elsewhere in the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">Pentateuch</a>, God tests the people Israel:
see Exodus <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Exodus+15%3A26"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">15:26</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Exodus+16%3A4"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">16:4</span></a>;
Deuteronomy <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Deuteronomy+8%3A2"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">8:2</span></a>, <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Deuteronomy+8%3A16"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">16</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Deuteronomy+13%3A3"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">13:3</span></a>; <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Deuteronomy+33%3A8"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">33:8</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Here I am”: Often used to indicate readiness
and availability with respect to God’s command. See also <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+31%3A11"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">31:11</span></a>
(Jacob); <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+46%3A2"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">46:2</span></a> (Jacob);
Exodus <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Exodus+3%3A4"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">3:4</span></a>
(Moses); 1 Samuel <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=1Samuel+3%3A8"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">3:8</span></a>
(Samuel). Used here three times, vv. 7 and 11. Especially interesting is v. 7,
where Abraham says the words in response to being addressed by Isaac. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Whom you love.” This is the first time that
love is ever mentioned at all in the Bible. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Moriah (mountain) Traditional (but unlikely)
site of Solomon's <st1:city w:st="on">Temple</st1:city> at <st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city>, on the threshing floor of Araunah.
Cf. 2 Chronicles 3:1 “Solomon began to build the house of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord </span>in <st1:city w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:city>
on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mount</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Moriah</st1:placename></st1:place>, where the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> had appeared to his father David,
at the place that David had designated, on the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite.” However, the image of Abraham sacrificing on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Moriah</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Mountain</st1:placetype></st1:place>
was seen as a prototype <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d26ed3ce-622a-4161-8587-52136e624463" id="647bbb28-82c0-4e6a-a4d6-9adf82da4887"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="4d0e2c48-d648-441a-8208-9f5293739572" id="4527056e-a719-4563-aa4c-fe26e0ce920e">to</span></span> the Moriah temple and Isaac’s “sacrifice” was seen
as the foundation of the sacrificial system. There is a <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="a2ab6b09-5b85-4c1f-bee5-7330dad2a1be" id="84c6a6bf-7d4b-46f6-96cd-f1514670f36f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="0c70d325-b0cf-46f5-992f-26e0511a66e6" id="b8e2999a-c471-4f3d-b5d5-31bc3f3c8f3b">substitutionary</span></span> nature
to sacrifice. As later in the Passover, a ram is slaughtered in place of a son
(cf. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7d1b9894-c5e0-4308-bfbe-f57bc010db71" id="882b444e-c2bb-4d2b-b092-c2b785dac6c1"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3fe7cd95-de1a-4610-a36b-f9fc94d6dcdc" id="50b0d3e7-90be-4a8d-bf76-6616352be1b3">Exo</span></span>. 12), and over the centuries the blood of bulls and goats is added to
the blood of the ram slain for Isaac. In the latter days, Jesus is the Passover
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d1914d40-5fbb-45d9-8aa1-44ba2a0fffe5" id="33d8c2d3-caff-4ab9-b285-af27370bcb5f"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="1421f2e6-53a3-4ee4-9626-c27d10da5f7f" id="80e8de30-9efd-49a8-8788-e02140fe87b8">sacrificed</span></span> for us. Adapted from “Blogging toward Sunday,” Peter J. Leithart, <i>Theolog</i>
(http://www.theolog.org/blog/2008/06/blogging-towa-3.html#more). <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Go to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">land</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Moriah</st1:placename></st1:place><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="d2d7eee3-93d7-4e94-9e49-971bfe7515f5" id="80f8cfd5-ea1a-4144-849a-8314ab4cb9ae"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="8b9861d8-f60f-4987-a65d-f3e0deddc572" id="7ebf249e-9353-4ea8-b2bd-d6acf4f5b710">…</span></span>on
one of the mountains that I shall show you.” Evidence of a redaction: Moriah is
the name of a mountain, not a region. You can’t go a particular mountain and
then wait for God to tell you which mountain to go to. The name “Moriah” was probably
added to tie the story <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="7e2ef44a-2242-45eb-b2da-02e8c1344b7d" id="5cd00832-3ad1-45e5-a2de-c7278eb12a73"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="048ac829-8de8-4224-adfd-43ab9a40666e" id="d7d2f808-835b-4499-b9f5-a9bfa37efda9">to</span></span> the founding of the Temple Moriah in Jerusalem, to
imply that Abraham was the founder of that temple. But he clearly was not. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>Saw</i>,
<i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e8ce510d-28a6-4afd-9649-3da50ec2bec0" id="4bbefd99-9184-4e16-92dd-3cd8e423a1f4"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="b70f4faf-56e4-4527-8125-ec1e6d4ddafe" id="52666a5c-ff6f-4a9c-9e39-18b2a0476570">yi’reh</span></span></i>, a prim. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="07898e79-9da5-4809-9851-611e9a57e149" id="8eeffc55-783b-41e8-9dd9-83d2f5e22173"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="fef9150e-b9d4-4780-a7dd-9244a3a3ac00" id="518f06af-29cc-48d0-bec4-5122ae18b3de">root</span></span>; “to see,” lit.
<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="5b2a9671-3297-42d7-a73b-cb777d85fbb4" id="976d2e18-42af-4fb9-8a92-b899348bc050"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="9be0eef3-f2a2-4127-b4a0-6a9791e9af0f" id="5c7d5cd0-de4f-43b4-ab11-0b734c92e030">or</span></span> fig. Also, “provide,” “cause to (let) show (self).” The first of a series of
plays on the <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e6e4df54-33ab-4425-bfa9-bde55481489d" id="2368ff58-3313-4a4f-a7e5-6f34cff55745"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="160c5e97-3240-4d2f-8356-ea4721d38918" id="ee8f8172-bc37-4cb6-a0f1-217d5607d565">word <i>yi’reh</i></span><i></i></span><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i>, which continues
the complex wordplay on “seeing,” which has been prominent throughout the
Abrahamic stories, 16:13-14; 21:9. Seeing and providing are closely linked
linguistically in Hebrew, and especially theologically in these passages. See
especially below on 22:8, and 14.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Over there.” The IB notes that in accordance
with Hebrew Scripture usage, if they were really going to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mount</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Moriah</st1:placename></st1:place>,
then Abraham would not have said that we will “go over there,” but that we will
“go u<i>p.</i>” Another indication that Moriah
was a <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="24bb3172-dce5-4435-b8a3-4f3f93253413" id="654e48c8-92ac-4665-874d-6740782730af"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="f37630eb-0f70-42ba-911e-1f1eb519e740" id="1cfbc9ca-d918-4fbe-81db-12def8130732">redaction</span></span> to the earlier story.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The first and last conversation between Isaac
and Abraham.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>God<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c0b247ab-f635-4442-bd31-9dc36f012dbd" id="4413e7ce-d3f8-42ba-88ae-4dd2b2a92dbd"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="04b62674-5ae9-422c-b2de-6f65fe3a8036" id="b75c8887-3e52-4826-94b2-dab8be890cc2">…</span></span>will
provide, ’<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c0b247ab-f635-4442-bd31-9dc36f012dbd" id="3cc4954c-1eca-4bd3-863c-c6c7cdecd68b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="04b62674-5ae9-422c-b2de-6f65fe3a8036" id="0b5d8ae7-de1f-4d05-bac0-417b11454fbb">elohim</span></span>, <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="c0b247ab-f635-4442-bd31-9dc36f012dbd" id="a47ba57f-1d0a-4ebc-9c7e-603f83b5f088"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="04b62674-5ae9-422c-b2de-6f65fe3a8036" id="bff79786-fb56-43fc-9de7-27a18da9c9ee">yi’reh</span></span>, </i>same word as used in v. 4. Means in this case,
“God will see to it” or God will make it visible.” Haslam suggests that the
phrase may intend irony as in “God
himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering - my son.”<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Kill” (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">ָשַׁחט</span><span dir="LTR"></span><i><span style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="LTR"></span>
šāḥaṭ</span></i><span style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">).</span> Verb, to slaughter, to
kill, to offer, to slay. Haslam says that “The Hebrew word is a technical term used specifically to describe animal
sacrifice.”<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[15<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="65e95d21-8a36-4724-b42d-44856bb507e2" id="c28927ef-6a32-45b4-aaf9-d8649db5f445"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ee72130c-7217-4da7-88bb-e4971ec690d9" id="3daa0c4a-5570-474b-b2b2-c39c1b94a23c">]</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="font-variant: small-caps; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Lord</span><i> </i>(<i><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="65e95d21-8a36-4724-b42d-44856bb507e2" id="f6c18a74-77cc-437c-83fa-fd24ad755f25"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ee72130c-7217-4da7-88bb-e4971ec690d9" id="a0378ac8-1796-4b58-9a65-e7640574fd0d">yhwh</span></span></span></i>, <i>Yahweh</i>). Note the change from <i>Elohim</i>
to <i>Yahweh</i>. Some believe that it was
inserted by the redactor to make a distinction between two gods. Others say it
is two different understandings of the one God, or it is the merging together
of writings by two authors (Elohist and Yahwist). If it is two writers, then
vv. 14-18 are probably from the Yahwist, because they relate naming the place
using Yahweh’s name. But that doesn’t explain v. 11, where Yahweh first
appears. It is fairly clear that a redactor stuck it there for a reason. What
the reason was, is the question. See below on Michael Lerner, who relates
rabbinic Midrash that said it was two voices within Abraham’s head. The good
God and the bad God.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “Here I am” (<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">ִהֵנּה</span><span dir="LTR"></span><i><span style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span dir="LTR"></span>
hinnēh</span></i><span style="font-family: "TITUS Cyberbit Basic","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">)</span> Behold, or look.
Continuing the theme of <i>sight</i>
underneath this passage. “An interjection meaning behold, look, now; if. It is
used often and expresses strong feelings, surprise, hope, expectation,
certainty, thus giving vividness depending on its surrounding context. Its main
meanings can only be summarized briefly here: It stresses a following word
referring to persons or things (Gen. 12:19; Gen. 15:17; Gen. 18:9). It is used
to answer, with the first person suffix attached, when one is called (Gen.
22:1, Gen. 22:7).” (Complete word Study Dictionary)<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>Saw </i>a
ram<i>, <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="93390a21-8b46-4543-8252-ecbd1a79bbc1" id="cf08c718-0de9-419e-95a9-9b86b987bf4e"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="30ae14c4-d55d-4a3e-8087-9668251c7d4e" id="5bbe72d2-38ae-4d58-a19e-cb40ddc0b93c">yi’reh</span></span>. </i>Perhaps, “<i>had provided for him </i>a ram.”<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>The <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> will provide,</i> <i>Yahweh <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="02c57ad0-08f7-4f47-b7e7-f1c274425f3c" id="e8b29aee-3e15-49e1-9641-21ec645680f7"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3c1e97e4-8438-4ae9-b656-28c3607252b5" id="46820e8e-2fd7-4d83-9d8d-fe552e580c64">yir’eh</span></span></i>, literally, “Yahweh will <i>see to it</i>.”<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <i>On the
mount of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="16762e59-fa01-40ce-9d51-2bb19397ed88" id="2ebad899-a4b7-42db-9f13-0c15ce637f6b"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2ac4efbd-3843-4f00-aafd-3d1317706d70" id="791bb0b8-586a-4fa5-b34f-b1c1eb621b0f">…</span></span>provided, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="16762e59-fa01-40ce-9d51-2bb19397ed88" id="5dc065bb-238d-4aea-9ef5-1dd26f8ae1d2"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2ac4efbd-3843-4f00-aafd-3d1317706d70" id="0460d933-c635-4d89-9f4d-be3f8645b487">yhwh</span></span></span></i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="16762e59-fa01-40ce-9d51-2bb19397ed88" id="efe6215c-ad53-4e97-a9da-ebb005909e46"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2ac4efbd-3843-4f00-aafd-3d1317706d70" id="65775e30-3591-4973-802a-0e6575fd8bf5"> …</span></span><i><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="16762e59-fa01-40ce-9d51-2bb19397ed88" id="08f90dbf-483d-4508-befc-f106eac9f3da"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2ac4efbd-3843-4f00-aafd-3d1317706d70" id="6cdf1eed-14aa-417f-b8ae-be2033227d8c">yi’reh</span></span></i>. Either, “The mountain where Yahweh will provide (a ram)” or
“<span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cb3fb13e-f6bd-41e8-aaf6-c3c603571775" id="86efdbc6-c991-4c8d-aad2-446a976a12a6"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e0d5cf72-cbdc-486f-9e22-24847422586e" id="48c9ea99-5357-4cd7-9183-d99d17cd5fb7">…</span></span>where Yahweh can be seen.” Either is possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> “The angel of the Lord.” For the angel’s role
in <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="aab88dd7-c55c-47bd-b11f-fbeee211722d" id="274b3001-117d-44d9-b9cc-62c8a3649ce4"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="ab0a4185-5a57-489e-a525-44335fa18797" id="493925d8-26d7-47b6-9776-c3ae5bd8db38">story</span></span> of the flight of Ishmael and Hagar, see <a href="http://bible.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?version=nrs&word=Genesis+21%3A17-19"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">21:17-19</span></a>.
The J writer typically has God speak directly to humans. The E writer usually
speaks through angels. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> God has made promises to Abraham six times:
see 12:2-3, 7; 13:14-17; 15; 17; 18. Now the angel repeats for the seventh and
climatic time (12:2-3, 7; 13:14-17; 15; 17; 18) the great promises in their
most generous form. For the first time, Abraham is blessed because he has
heeded God’s command. [NJBC]<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7805369423841502949#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-font-kerning: 1.0pt;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <st1:city w:st="on">Beersheba</st1:city>.
“This important city, often identified as the southern limit of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>’s territory (Judg 20:1; 1 Sam 3:20),
is traditionally located in the northern <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place>
at Tell <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e3da921e-37e8-4c1d-9024-e73e78ff9385" id="88e6d08b-8fda-425e-9390-b184ffe4ed46"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="cc4ce467-ba00-4b5a-a0c0-db0bf5696fdf" id="218f82c6-aa4e-42e4-811f-2d642ca92104">es</span></span>-Seba’ (three miles east of the modern city). Its name derives from
its association with the wells dug to provide water for the people and flocks
in this area (see Gen 26:23–33) (Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="e361b664-cc13-4d20-ba1a-3e856c2e001c" id="312afa57-3e6f-471f-8c8f-8c05c4f8c262"><span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="6f9dd9eb-ba2b-4964-9c3a-d6aab623ff77" id="ae32f19c-8e2b-4f2d-99cd-98f0c4726df1">Chavalas</span></span> and
John H. Walton, <i>The IVP Bible Background
Commentary: Old Testament</i> (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Downers
Grove</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">IL</st1:state></st1:place>:
InterVarsity Press, 2000).<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-25309708034914450332014-06-26T23:15:00.000-04:002014-06-27T06:09:34.839-04:00STATISTICAL TID BIT FOR THE MONTH:<br />
<ul>
<li>96% of Americans believe that the 140 people who give 60% of ALL campaign contributions is destructive to democracy.</li>
<li>91 % of Americans believe that changing that will never happen. There's nothing we can do about it. It's over. Democracy has ended. We lost. [1]</li>
</ul>
<br />
That's probably true, but very depressing.<br />
<br />
And not unrelated to those two statistics, 80 percent of all conservatives in America think that poor people "have it easy." Too, easy and should be punished for their lavish lifestyles[2]<br />
<br />
Would you like to get un-depressed and join one of the most important, and most hopeful organizations in <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608014348216174656&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ts1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=HN.608014348216174656&w=300&h=300&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0" /></a></div>
America that is struggling to take corruption (and yes, they use that term) out of Congress?<br />
<br />
It's Larry Lessig, a terribly unassuming Patent attorney who has gotten terribly frightened about the drain on American democracy and is trying to rally the 96% back into faith that we can do it. <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/24/larry-lessig-completes-185-mile-walk-across-new-hampshire/" target="_blank">Click here</a> for his blog.<br />
<br />
And <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/24/larry-lessig-completes-185-mile-walk-across-new-hampshire/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/24/larry-lessig-completes-185-mile-walk-across-new-hampshire/" target="_blank">here</a>, for a nice interview with him after his ted Talk on the subject<br />
<br />
And <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/republic-lost-lawrence-lessig/1102591649?ean=9780446576444" target="_blank">here</a> to buy a copy of his book, <i>Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress--and a Plan to Stop It</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] http://blog.ted.com/2014/01/24/larry-lessig-completes-185-mile-walk-across-new-hampshire/</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[2] http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118427/pew-survey-conservatives-think-poor-people-have-it-easy</span><br />
<br />Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7805369423841502949.post-28438506501035423222014-03-17T13:47:00.000-04:002015-02-06T13:49:12.371-05:00Jubilee, Argentina, and the Supreme Court<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hi Everyone,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fe07PFbTZLw/VNUMA7ZxCGI/AAAAAAAAzuk/uapJFo04s44/s1600/top_jubileeusa%5B1%5D.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fe07PFbTZLw/VNUMA7ZxCGI/AAAAAAAAzuk/uapJFo04s44/s1600/top_jubileeusa%5B1%5D.gif" /></a><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I need your help. Jubilee USA is a plaintiff in a case before the Supreme Court this month having to do with some old debts of Argentina going back for decades. And they want religious and mission and justice groups to sign-on as co-supporters of the brief.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here is the issue. You know that way back in the 1970s dozens of poor and developing countries borrowed way more than they could afford. Many of them did it because they were run by dictators or authoritarian militaries who stole the money and then retired to the French Riviera (or similar places). Some of them, like Costa Rica, tried to use the money wisely, but in the early 1980s the economy went to hell and the interest on their loans went through the roof. So, whether they were moral or immoral, around sixty countries collapsed economically. That’s the origins of the great debt crisis that spawned the Jubilee movement. Ever since then, we have been trying to arrange deals to get them out from underneath those debts that were literally eating up the incomes of so many countries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In many cases, we have been able to do a version of what happens to you and me when we get behind and go to a debt arrangement service. That is, they say “my client can pay you a certain amount on the dollar for the old debt, or you can continue trying to get more than they can afford and wind up getting nothing.” In most cases the creditor agrees and all parties are happy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The case in point today is Argentina, whose debts were stacked up during authoritarian military dictatorships that borrowed and squandered billions of dollars back in the 70s and 80s. They were finally thrown out in the late 1980s, and the new democratically elected government was left to pick up the tab. (They had to pay for all of the weapons that their previous government had purchased to shoot them with, which left a bad taste in their mouths.) Argentina is a middle income country, so they managed for a while, but when the recession of 2000 came, they were hit hard and offered their creditors the cents-on-the-dollar arrangement I mentioned above. The creditors took the deal and it was signed and done and everyone was happy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">However, bizarrely, later on a couple of investment firms bought up those old dead loans which for some reason were for sale on the international market, and they took Argentina to court, suing them for back payments. And they won their cases against Argentina all the way up to the US Supreme Court today. If they win this one, it means that Argentina will have to pay off all of the old dictators’ bills plus interest, which is billions of dollars. The importance of this is that if a middle-income country can be sued for debts it thought it had already cleared from the books, then poor countries all over the world will be vulnerable to the same kinds of law suits. It’s hard to overstate the kind of devastation this could wreak upon the world. The magazine, <i>The Economist</i> has called this the “Trial of the Century” because of the good it can do if we win and the damage it can do if we lose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, all I am asking is that our little group agree to be to sign onto the “amicus brief” in support of Argentina in this case. It won’t mean a whole lot, but they say that if the Supreme Court sees dozens of organizations supporting a case it carries a little bit of weight in their decision. And every little bit helps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, let me know. This is a long note (but it’s a long subject), so once you read through all of this, send me a quick note back as soon as you can with your vote.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Incidentally, I’ve included a copy of the letter from our attorneys to the Supreme Court about the case; it isn’t much, but it’s interesting to see how they do these things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Thanks,</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: tahoma, Helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Stan</span></div>
Stan G Duncan http://www.blogger.com/profile/01757624042233162584noreply@blogger.com0