Thanks Lucy, its helpful to be reminded that there is more to repentance than remorse, however sincere, that action, including preventive action against future occurrances, is also implied. Repentance is “an idea needing more engagement than abstinence”
The cartoon clearly reflects the secular world’s view that man himself is God, and will do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants, right or wrong. The modern world has rejected His ways and laws just as Israel did when they said they wanted a human king.
God is keeping hands off for now, allowing mankind to drift further and further from His ways and, in the process, digging the sinkhole he is sliding down into deeper and deeper. One way or another man will learn that his ways lead only to death and misery.
At some point man will be at his absolute limit and God will send His Son down to save man . . . just in the nick of time. Then His government will be set up and man will finally be put in his place where he can either learn and accept God’s ways, and live, or reject them and die. No coercion, no bullying, no subterfuge, just the absolute power of God finally overcoming, and eliminating, evil.
Interesting comment, Jim (if I may have permission to address you that way?)
I lean more towards the interpretation that God already sent the Messiah (Liberating King) at the fullness of time, about 2000 years ago, to make it possible to live life to the full in respect and appreciation of fellow human beings and our natural environment… to take us from dark practises into the Light way of doing things, and that, insofar as this particular Kingdom reigns NOW, in our midst, we can live the Christ-life. It is true that the in-place-of-Christ systems and perpetuators of that antichrist lifestyle have a window of time to spoil the world and humanity, with real and devastating consequences, but we, as Christ’s followers, have the opportunity to co-operate with the person/power of God to make a difference NOW… small islands of the Kingdom, in a kind of “reverse continental drift”, perhaps, until his return to bring the processes and times to a final culmination?
What do you think of that description? 🙂
Curious Christian
Once again, Leunig artfully captures the essence of a concept. That man is truly gifted.
Having just rediscovered an interest in ancient biblical festivals, and come through the recent week leading up to the Day of Atonement after the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), I found myself meditating on repentance and pondering on some new questions about violence and killing
I once again, came across a word that Jesus knew… Teshuvah… and when I googled that word was reminded of the wealth of meaning in the concept of repentance
“Teshuvah literally means “return” and is the word used to describe the concept of repentance in Judaism. Only by atoning for our sins can we restore balance to our relationship with God and with our fellow human beings.
Teshuvah is most frequently associated with the High Holy Days but people can seek forgiveness for wrongs they have committed at any time. There are several stages of teshuvah, including the sinner recognizing his or her wrongs, feeling sincere remorse and doing everything in their power to undo any damage that has been done. If a specific person has been wronged the offender must ask that person for forgiveness. The final stage of teshuvah is resolving to never commit such a sin again. According to Jewish tradition, by the third request the person who was wronged is required to grant forgiveness if the offender is sincerely remorseful and is taking steps to prevent similar wrongs from happening again.”
In the midst of my meditations, a poem “came to me” and I thought I’d better write it down before I forgot it, and submit it here for the amusement of possibly interested others
TESHUVAH “I”-LAND
© 2013 Lucy Jarasius
Hello! How are you?
I’m well, thanks. And you?
Well… are you sure you really want to know?
Yeah, sure… real people doing real things in real time… that’s rather refreshing…
You’re well, I hope… OK, shoot!
Bang on!
Well, I’m immersed in mercy
Walking a life of certain uncertainty
Found myself adrift on the sea of humanity
A humanity extinctly distinct in its violent solutions to questions nobody is asking
I’m clinging to a rock, that apparently no man is
Realising it’s an “I”-land of gratuitous dissatisfaction
Hewn from the hard-heartedness of economic rationalize-action
A greed, of potential yet untapped
A-quiver with the immanence of future fracking…
I can feel the squeeze to maintain the ease of lifestyles in ignorance a-bliss
Rash and race-hurried decisions leave me itching for re-solutions, certain something’s amiss
Resolutions abound, or perhaps revolutions around…ethnocentric divides
Dizzy with the thought of peace… turn me around… throw me to ground… face down
Eating dirt, tear-ing upwards to the heavens
Brassy ricocheted petitions, prayerful penetrators decrying perpetrations obscene
I can’t turn my back
…Could I turn it back?
Teshuvah (whispered)
Now that’s a refreshing idea!
An idea needing more engagement than abstinence to achieve righteousness a-bliss
More than just dirty lip-service
More than the mere perspiration of an armchair traveler unsullied by the touch of “the other”
Get around
Get down
Get OVER it
Get to it
Get it?
Turn TO, not just AWAY
It’s YOUR turn…
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Thanks Lucy, its helpful to be reminded that there is more to repentance than remorse, however sincere, that action, including preventive action against future occurrances, is also implied. Repentance is “an idea needing more engagement than abstinence”
LikeLike
The cartoon clearly reflects the secular world’s view that man himself is God, and will do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants, right or wrong. The modern world has rejected His ways and laws just as Israel did when they said they wanted a human king.
God is keeping hands off for now, allowing mankind to drift further and further from His ways and, in the process, digging the sinkhole he is sliding down into deeper and deeper. One way or another man will learn that his ways lead only to death and misery.
At some point man will be at his absolute limit and God will send His Son down to save man . . . just in the nick of time. Then His government will be set up and man will finally be put in his place where he can either learn and accept God’s ways, and live, or reject them and die. No coercion, no bullying, no subterfuge, just the absolute power of God finally overcoming, and eliminating, evil.
LikeLike
Interesting comment, Jim (if I may have permission to address you that way?)
I lean more towards the interpretation that God already sent the Messiah (Liberating King) at the fullness of time, about 2000 years ago, to make it possible to live life to the full in respect and appreciation of fellow human beings and our natural environment… to take us from dark practises into the Light way of doing things, and that, insofar as this particular Kingdom reigns NOW, in our midst, we can live the Christ-life. It is true that the in-place-of-Christ systems and perpetuators of that antichrist lifestyle have a window of time to spoil the world and humanity, with real and devastating consequences, but we, as Christ’s followers, have the opportunity to co-operate with the person/power of God to make a difference NOW… small islands of the Kingdom, in a kind of “reverse continental drift”, perhaps, until his return to bring the processes and times to a final culmination?
What do you think of that description? 🙂
LikeLike