Psalm 59
Some years ago Rob Bell did a tour on the topic 'The Gods aren't Angry". It was about the evolution of religious thought from the first inklings of greater powers that were fickle and needed more and more to satisfy them. In the minds of the first people the gods required sacrifice, first of crops and animals then leading up to humans. These people prayed for rain or sun they prayed for good harvests and good hunts and when the didn't get what they wanted they gave more and more. Do you see a common theme in those last couple sentences?
I mention all of that because I am reminded of a mindset that says that God must be appeased in order for God to look kindly on us. This Psalm and the previous one are both to be sung to the tune of something called 'Do Not Destroy'. I wish I could say that the concept of an angry god is something that belongs to a bygone age, but alas that is not true. There are still those today, namely extremist groups with all major religions, that still hold to a god who is angry at the world, or at least a certain corner of the world.
They, like David and many others before them, believe that God wants to strike down a certain segment of the population. Sometimes this is due to their anger, sometimes their fear. Sometimes this is due to personal negative experiences, sometimes because they have been indoctrinated into a certain story. Always their belief system is a perversion of their religion, always they choose their own desires over the truth of faith.
I know a little bit about a lot of faiths, but I know a lot about my own and in Christianity Jesus teaches us about a God of justice and love, of righteousness and mercy, of holiness and grace. Those who hold up Jesus and a God of mere wrath have missed the point, we need to be careful not to miss it also.
+ Do you believe that the gods are still angry?
+ How can you keep from painting religions only in light of their extremist factions?
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