| | Analysis of an Speech 2
Job 8 [link]
Let's look at this one like we did the first one:
Bildad's ResponseDoes God Mess Up? 1-7 Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak:
"How can you keep on talking like this?
You're talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that.
Does God mess up?
Does God Almighty ever get things backward?
It's plain that your children sinned against him—
otherwise, why would God have punished them?
Here's what you must do—and don't put it off any longer:
Get down on your knees before God Almighty.
If you're as innocent and upright as you say,
it's not too late—he'll come running;
he'll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes.
Even though you're not much right now,
you'll end up better than ever. To Hang Your Life from One Thin Thread 8-19 "Put the question to our ancestors,
study what they learned from their ancestors.
For we're newcomers at this, with a lot to learn,
and not too long to learn it.
So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what's what,
instruct you in what they knew from experience?
Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil?
Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water?
Blossoming flowers look great before they're cut or picked,
but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass.
That's what happens to all who forget God—
all their hopes come to nothing.
They hang their life from one thin thread,
they hitch their fate to a spider web.
One jiggle and the thread breaks,
one jab and the web collapses.
Or they're like weeds springing up in the sunshine,
invading the garden,
Spreading everywhere, overtaking the flowers,
getting a foothold even in the rocks.
But when the gardener rips them out by the roots,
the garden doesn't miss them one bit.
The sooner the godless are gone, the better;
then good plants can grow in their place.
20-22 "There's no way that God will reject a good person,
and there is no way he'll help a bad one.
God will let you laugh again;
you'll raise the roof with shouts of joy,
With your enemies thoroughly discredited,
their house of cards collapsed."
Overall I think Bildad's response looks much better than Eliphaz's. His reasoning seems more solid, though many of his thoughts are again only half-thought through.
He uses experience to implore for why Job should listen, yet elsewhere he doesn't let experience speak for itself. See, experience is a fickle mistress. It rarely works the same way all the time, and while it can point to truths, the truths are usually only half-truths or end-truths, but not "this will happen this way immediately all the time" truths. We often base experience off of the "this happened to me in the short run" instead of the long run, or we fall into the trap of forgetting the long-run only applies to the long-run.
Saying his children outright sinned was a bad move, but even with his bad suggestion, the things he says (ultimately) come true. Job IS upright (save his one mistake through it all), and he IS restored at the end and made greater. Not because God had to or does that for all people this side of heaven. though.
The same mistake pervades his thought as Eliphaz -- that no good person gets hurt. Bildad seems a bit presumptuous and harsh, but his advice (given it were true) was actually quite excellent. Seem thus far his only undoing is his rashness in speaking and assumptions.
We're all prone to that -- speaking before we have all the facts, or interpreting one wrong, which can lead most everything else astray. We need to slow down, listen, and think a bit more before we speak.
Heavenly Father, thank You for being so wonderful. I pray that we would slow down and not make false assumptions because we're not willing to open up our minds to other possibilities. We must have an open mind, but only an open mind which is open for the sake of seeking the truth. When the truth is found we must close our openness, but let us not be too closed before we begin. Help us to learn how to be there for our freinds, and help us to give sage advice, too. Abba, we love You, praise You and thank You for all things. May this all be about You, and may Your Name be famed above all other things.
Amen.
Yay for Saturdays and Visits
State: A bit behind, but very good ^_^
So...
My parents came to visit as of Thursday. This meant a decrease of posting would likely occur. =P They came for just a few days since dad had the time off work thanks to the 4th of July. Speaking of that, happy that today, today. =P It was really good to get to see my parents again. We were both glad they came.
We just had some people over. We try to have people over for supper every weekend, and so far it's been good. We missed last week, but we're still trying to get it rolling and figure out who's still in town and who isn't. This week was gyuu-don, or basically meat over rice. We also had some spinach stuff and edamame, too. Dessert was a fruit tart, which was quite awesome.
Umm... otherwise not too much else to report. Transformers 2 was pretty good. We got a new router, so that's super-nice. There really isn't much else I can think of, actually.
Life's been good. Time to do my QT before we go watch something at the Cornell on-campus cinema. It just shows one thing at a time, but Amy never went while she was a student and wants to go now. That'll be in about 25 minutes or so, so I best get going!
Oh, one more thing -- Amy's also learning how to drive. Today was her first time driving on a major road, and she did quite well. I was very proud with how well she did. Her goal's to have her license by her birthday in about 2 months. I think she'll do just fine. ^_^
God bless, all.
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| | Posted 7/4/2009 9:06 PM - 3 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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