MONDAY, APRIL 22, 2024 - PASSOVER'
I wrote about Earth Day last week. Did it change your mind? Have you made changes in your use of plastics? Will you be using reusable bags when you go to the store?
I want to write about another memorable event for one group of people - Passover.
Passover is the Celebration of when the Angel of Death killed the firstborn son in Egypt - with the exception that the angel did not kill the firstborn son on the houses that had blood from a perfect lamb painted on the door posts.
The Hebrew people had moved to Egypt when Joseph was the primary administrator under the Pharaoh. During the famine, Joseph helped his family survive.
But, years later, the Hebrews had grown to large numbers in Egypt and had become slaves - according to the Biblical text.
But I found this:
“Although the biblical text clearly and explicitly documents Israel's sojourn in Egypt, some scholars reject the idea that the Hebrews ever dwelt there. They reject this biblical account as fiction because of a purported lack of archaeological evidence.”
That could be significant.
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To me (yes, we all get to choose), I have loved my faith - and have accepted the Bible as God's’ Word.
There are some things I question.
A woman should learn in quietness and complete submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, and holiness with propriety. I Timothy 2:11-15.
Maybe as I have become a woman out of a big change in my life—a charge to LOVE EVERYBODY—I question that last sentence. I can not bear children (unless another miracle happens in my life). What about nuns / religious sisters who choose a life of service? They will not give birth to children—will they not be saved? And, in that story, the man comes out as good, and the woman comes out as bad!!
Many have pointed out that the Bible, as we know it, was written by men. I do think it was possible for the Hebrews to be slaves in Egypt and then the Angel of Death did pass over the homes with the blood of a lamb. That is the central point in my Jefriends'ends' history.
The God I want to adore and follow - LOVES US. I will take John 3:16 - For GOD SO LOVED … God is LOVE. Yet much of the Old Testament history is negative - Cain kills his brother Abel; King David lusts after Bathsheba and has Bathsheba's husband killed so he can marry her.
I think we all want to be children of God - we all want to be special - and we are very special. The Hebrew people wanted and needed a story - a history that says, “Hey, you are Special,” - and they are Special. Christians have a Virgin Birth of a Messiah, and an atoning death of that Messiah - and a fantastic coming out of a grave of that Messiah - and of His ascension into Heaven. “We are Special”.
Other cultures have histories—Mohammed, Buddha, the Great Spirit, and more. They, too are “Special.”
I pick and choose more and more from my familiar scriptures. “We are made in the image" of God”—yes, I believe that!! But I also believe that “God is"Spirit.” I am slowly working towards seeing how Big God is—INFINITE. (How else could there be 8 Trillion Galaxies?) God’s ways are not our ways
I can’t give up my faith, Like all weak humans, I need an anchor, a rock - to build my life upon.
Today, I salute thousands of years and millions of people who are celebrating Passover - and the Exodus - when God led “his people” out into the wilderness for forty years before giving them the area known as Israel.
God does work miracles. I know. I have received miracles from His/Her hands!!
And, I proclaim - Love Wins; Love transforms!!
Karen Anne White, © April 22, 2024
