Dr. Harold McNabb
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What Goes Around, Comes Around |
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Monday, 25 July 2005 16:00 |
One of the bothersome details about the life of Jacob is his character. He is a schemer and deceiver, and yet God makes a covenant with him, just as he had with his grandfather, Abraham.
We know that the covenant of God has nothing to do with how good or how special we are, and has everything to do with how good God is; but the fact that the charade which Jacob and Rebekah pull on Isaac and Esau seems to be honored by God, leaves us with some serious questions. It does me, anyway.
It bothers me because we read in scripture that we are to love justice because God does. Scripture is filled with examples of God meting out punishment to the unjust and wicked.
But here we read how Jacob deceives his father and brother and seems to be rewarded. It?s not hard to understand that God loves Jacob as much as anyone, but his behavior seems to be tolerated too.
At no point does God seem to intervene saying, "Jacob, stop that!"
But what goes around comes around, and Jacob ends up . . .
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Surely God is in This Place |
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Saturday, 16 July 2005 19:18 |
One of the underlying goals of space research is the search for life beyond ourselves.
When any of the building blocks of life, primarily water, carbon and nitrogen are found there is considerable excitement. The same is true for new suns with planets orbiting them. The thought is the same...maybe there is someone else out there.
Various geographic locations have led to speculation about them being doorways to other worlds. The pyramids of Egypt and Central America as well as Machu Pichu in South America have become fuel for people looking for celestial doorways.
Apparently even Sri Lanka is considered a doorway to other worlds.
History is full of sacred shrines where people have reported divine experiences such as Lourdes in France, Delphi in ancient Greece and Bethel of Genesis. People have considered the places holy and come to worship and seek guidance and healing.
The story in Genesis 28 describes the background to the town of Bethel which was . . .
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Monday, 04 July 2005 16:00 |
I think I have told you the story of my conversation with my grandmother about her decision to move to Alberta at the turn of the last century to homestead. I say her decision because she was not married to my grandfather when she left home.
They were both born and raised on Prince Edward Island and met there. She was a girl of nineteen and he a man of thirty. Both were single. He took a liking to her and said he was headed west to pioneer and asked her to join him and be his bride on the frontier. What happened was he went first then she followed by rail, virtually crossing the continent to meet the man she would wed. Theirs was a stormy relationship and one of many hardships and perils. She once had what would be called a near death experience and used to tell us how she saw the gates of heaven. She was a very plain spoken woman and there was . . .
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Monday, 27 June 2005 20:20 |
 Mt. St. Helen's is rumbling and puffing again, although it seems less likely this week that a big eruption is imminent, than it seemed a couple of weeks ago. I lived a thousand miles to the east when it blew in 1980, but I remember smelling the sulfurous odor one morning and hearing on the local radio that the smell was from the eruption. The photos of it erupting are spectacular. Reading accounts of people who were on the mountain or near it and survived, it was an experience of absolutely overwhelming awe and magnitude. And of course there was enormous destruction. The Toutle river was rerouted. Spirit Lake disappeared and there were many deaths. Also interesting was the more long term after effect. Volcanic ash was distributed for many miles around, and we know that volcanic ash is filled with soil nutrients. Agricultural valleys east of the cascades range became benefactors of the mountain's fury.
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Sunday, 19 June 2005 16:00 |
If anyone had a right to ask, "why me, God?", it was Hagar. Sure she had been a willing participant, but none of this had been her idea, and she really couldn?t have refused her mistress Sarah. Now look where it got her! They needed her and she agreed. She let them have her most precious possession, her body. She had given them a son they could not have on their own and was pleased to be able to. For Abraham and Sarah to die with no heir would be tragic.
It?s not as if she had been trying to steal Abraham from Sarah. She had total respect for Abraham and for Sarah for that matter, though she wondered why God had made her mistress barren. Not for her to wonder, though many times she thought, why does Sarah have such a good husband and I have none, but God must have a reason and she accepted her position as Sarah?s maid. And it was a good position in the home of a wealthy and kind man. She could do much worse.
She loaded herself with as much water and food as she could carry for herself and Ishmael and headed out into the wilderness. She was frightened. Who would they meet? They would almost certainly . . .
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