In the recent
collapse of the economy, we continued to stake our claim on the power of
wealth. As much as the Occupy movement want to seek some form of justice by
asking presidents of large companies to receive salaries more in line with those
who worked for them, in the end, it still came down to valuing money over all
else. We live in a very materialistic world. Our search for ultimate meaning
has been reduced to the acts of acquisition; we rent more storage space to
store more stuff we do not need. The ancient prophet, Isaiah, faced the same
crisis of spiritual hunger in his day. In the end, he noted, when everything is
taken from us we would come to the full understanding of the emptiness of our
materialistic hunger:
“For in that day every one of you will reject
the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.” (Isaiah 31:7)
You do not have to wait for a total destruction of
your world to confess that money will not bring spiritual meaning. You can
begin today by taking your eyes off your stuff and putting them on God. – Ron Friesen
I wish you would move on and stop quoting Isaiah. George Bush quoted Isaiah repeatedly in his run up to Iraq II and during the conflict. Isaiah seems to be a popular figure to justify war with, I don't know why the "right" finds permission to agress in this Prophet's book. Maybe you do?
ReplyDeleteYF, I just made a decision to continue in Isaiah after I did the book of Lamentations. Only about 30 more chapters to go :). As you know I do not belong to the "right". There is a lot of Isaiah which does not justify war. In fact, Isaiah is talking to his people, the ones who claimed to God's people, that their destruction by Assyria was testimony to God's unhappiness with them. I think the same words apply to much of the United States of America who claims itself as a "Christian nation" who will be spared the coming conflagration. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteRon, I know you are not on the "right's" team, and I know that it is not unusual, in fact it is common for politicians to use the bible as justification. Ok, keep going if you must. I'll hang in there.
ReplyDeleteYF, Thank you. Your comments are an encouragement to me to do a short paper on the use of Isaiah in the US body politic going back all the way to the Puritans.
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