It's a song about a woman begging the married man she's been seeing to stay and not go. Here are the lyrics.
Often as humans we seeing the instructions that God gave us in the Bible, like His commandment against adultery, as a restriction on our lives. But it's the exact opposite! He gives us these rules for our own protection. You can tell by the lyrics, the tone of her voice, and the tears in her eyes demonstrate that this relationship has caused her great pain, not joy. I don't believe that God wants to see his children in such agony.
One thing that is often not discussed is the emotional toll an action my take in our lives. You often hear the excuse, "Well, I didn't hurt anyone!" However, it's difficult measure the emotional damage an action might cause yourself and others. It's just not quantifiable. One can't quantify it by the amount of tears one cries. Nor by the hours of contemplating what went wrong or how things could have been different. It also can't be quantified by the life changes that occurred after the wrong action. Emotional scars can take months or years to heal from. However, the saddest scars are the ones that never heal.
I think this is the most enlightening line in the song:
There is one thing you should know We don't have to live this way
I love the "have to" line in the song because it's the acknowledgment that their own personal choices have led them to where they are at today. The best part of the song is when she realizes what they are doing is wrong and makes a better choice: Not staying in a bad relationship.
It is so frustrating how when you going through something you can't get past the hurt of the here, the now. I always try to keep the hope that tomorrow will bring a better day. It might not, but I hold on dear to that sentiment.
I guess our generation is such that we want things instantly. We never want another moment of anguish. But do we believe that from one moment to another all our ailments can be fixed? Life, unfortunately, doesn't work like that.
The only things that keeps me going while I'm doing the mundane task of everyday living is that there is purpose for everything I am going through.
There is a lesson to be learned for all the pain. The worst thing I can possibly conceive is that every tear I've cried and all the hurt other people have witness was all in vain.
Sometimes our emotional wounds are much greater than any physical ones. Sometimes we can predict when our physical wounds will heal. A cut will take a couple days to seal up. But our emotional cuts, we never know when they will start heal.
But we can't walk through life in a bubble, not ever wanting to get hurt. Because a life in a bubble might be more injurious than one filled with bruises.
Even my Lord and Savior, Jesus, bled.
We are human. We live to relate. We live to touch and to be touched. We live to love and to be loved.
But unfortunatley..... sometimes those touches become blows.
President Obama's poll numbers are slipping. I think I've said before in my blog and I'll say it again: We are living in a era of a hyper-partisan divide. It is going to take a generation, I hope, to get over. I didn't expect Obama to heal the partisan divide. I also think ever since the 1960s the generations keep getting more cynical. Many in our nation believe the worst of their government and the people that hold political office. They even believe untruth. The Radical Left thought was Bush was a fascist, warmonger who only started wars for oil and to get back his daddy. The Radical Right believes in conspiratorial nonsense like President Obama not being born in Hawaii.
So in this toxic atmosphere how in the world could we expect a president to sustain high approval ratings?
Someone with a mass marketed message of peace, love, and tax hikes couldn't be just another regular Joe to the liberal media. The deification of Sen. Barack Obama has been so prevalent that there's a blog titled "Is Barack Obama the Messiah?"devoted to cataloging the media's glorification of the politician. Well in the secular media one doesn't have to wait till the Sabbath to worship their would-be president. For example, in today's column by Mark Morford in the San Francisco Gate he asks the question, "Is Obama an enlightened being?" Here's a portion of his column:
Barack Obama isn't really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway.
This is what I find myself offering up more and more in response to the whiners and the frowners and to those with broken or sadly dysfunctional karmic antennae - or no antennae at all - to all those who just don't understand and maybe even actively recoil against all this chatter about Obama's aura and feel and MLK/JFK-like vibe.
To them I say, all right, you want to know what it is? The appeal, the pull, the ethereal and magical thing that seems to enthrall millions of people from all over the world, that keeps opening up and firing into new channels of the culture normally completely unaffected by politics?
No, it's not merely his youthful vigor, or handsomeness, or even inspiring rhetoric. It is not fresh ideas or cool charisma or the fact that a black president will be historic and revolutionary in about a thousand different ways. It is something more. Even Bill Clinton, with all his effortless, winking charm, didn't have what Obama has, which is a sort of powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity.
Every religion needs an "Evil One." There's no exception in Morford's column:
Please. I'm also certainly not saying he's perfect, that his presidency will be free of compromise, or slimy insiders, or great heaps of politics-as-usual. While Obama's certainly an entire universe away from George W. Bush in terms of quality, integrity, intelligence and overall inspirational energy, well, so is your dog. Hell, it isn't hard to stand far above and beyond the worst president in American history.
It's going to be interesting to see how liberals react when they find out that he's not perfect, makes mistakes, and fail sometimes, for example, like a regular human and every president we've ever had. They have set the bar so high there's nothing left but down.
Also, Obama is not helping himself out either. He sets the bar high himself with his soaring rhetoric. For example, his speech on the final primary night where he announced he is the Democratic presidential nominee, he said:
Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment – this was the time – when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.
Oceans rising. Caring for sick. Healing the planet. That's daring and highfalutin language.
I've had enough with the New Age "positive thinking" phenomenon. The silly notion that problems can be solved because one thinks positively is everywhere. Everyone from Oprah to Pastor Joel Osteen evangelize about positive thinking. The logic goes like this: If you think positively, positive things happen to you.
I'm all for people thinking positively. Life is more fulfilling when one focuses on the good things instead of all the bad things. However, just because you think you can be a millionaire doesn't mean you'll have a million dollars tomorrow in your bank account. It's nonsense.
All the poor people in the world are not in their position because of negative thinking. I would also say that poverty isn't due to a lack effort or hard work either. There are many causes to poverty but I don't think negative thinking is one of them. I don't think positive thinking will heal someone from one's ailments.
I've learned throughout my life that sometimes thoughts and actions aren't necessarily related. Sometimes positive thoughts don't lead to positive actions. Sometimes negative thoughts don't lead to negative actions. I can think to myself all day long that I'm some type of supermodel but that doesn't mean Vogue is going to give a call for a photo shoot tomorrow (or any day!).
We need to have a realistic view of the world. Sometimes things are bad. There is war, poverty and sickness and we can't wish them away with positive thinking.
I watched this view last night and have been thinking about so I thought I would respond. It makes some atheistic arguments against the Bible and God:
I want to respond to a couple of points made in the video just from regular lay person's understanding of the Bible and God. So if a theologian wants to comment and better dispute the arguments please do in the comment section.
The first argument made against the Bible in the video is the violent nature of Deuteronomy 28. I against it is insinuating if this passage is so violent then God is violent, therefore, not a "good" God. If you actually read about first half of Deuteronomy 28 you will actually find out how much God wants to bless the obedient:
1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
So I don't think it is entirely fair to characterize this whole chapter in the Bible as "fire and brimstone." Secondly, they easily dismiss the historical and cultural context. In every other historical document we take into account the prevailing wisdom of the time, why not the Bible? Actually Deuteronomy and other books in the Old Testament deal with cleanliness. And one of the curses mentioned was disease. Wouldn't it be understandable for people who didn't have the biological knowledge we have right now and attribute diseases brought about by uncleanliness to God?
The second point the video makes: Why didn't reveal Jesus medical knowledge? I guess the premise of that question is why didn't Jesus help cure sickness. Jesus didn't come to cure diseases. He came to save souls. The notion that God hasn't cured diseases only bothers atheists because they don't believe in an afterlife. If this world is all we have then nobody should be sick. But you see I actually see this as an argument FOR God. Let me explain. The Bible talks about a fallen world, that's not perfect. Sickness is a part of world that is NOT perfect. Heaven is a place where there is no suffering. And honestly atheist don't have an superb explanation of suffering either. Alright so we now have the technology to know more about diseases but when someone is seriously sick does it alleviate the death sentence anymore knowing exactly what it is? Also, isn't this notion "Well, why doesn't God heal?" question basically an attempt to create a "heaven" a Earth by science? If theists are crazy for believing in some sort of afterlife, is it not equally as nuts to believe that humans can create a sick and hunger free Utopian world?
Another point made in the video is "Why didn't Jesus advance social progress like racial and gender equality?" I would actually disagree that the Bible doesn't advance human rights. Ever heard of the term the "Social Gospel"? The Hebrews were slaves and the Bible talks about how highly unjust that was. The Bible point blank calls slavery "unjust suffering," there is no two ways about that. 1 Peter 2:19 :
19For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.
As for gender equality, it was radical thing Jesus did when he defended a woman about to be stone:
Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Joh 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
After reading that and still claim that Jesus is some sort of sexist is beyond me.
The songs that helped me heal when I was little seem to make it into my burned CD. I take a moment to breathe. I put them on repetitious loop. When you have music….who needs chicken soup? I don’t want to hear about the sunny side right now when outside the rain is torrential. I peak outside because somehow I think that will be beneficial. The rhythm in the background is getting fiercer. Thinking about the promises that never seem to deliver.
My life is an earthquake and I am waiting to get over the aftershocks. With no shoes on I walk through the rugged rocks. As each word is written the fear seems to be poured onto the paper. I will have to get back to myself later.
