Dauthor Jacqueline (Jackie) Richey Weber
We read in the book of Jonah that “the word of the Lord came unto Jonah . . . saying, . . . ‘go to Nineveh’. . . . But Jonah rose up to flee . . . from the presence of the Lord, and . . . found a ship going to Tarshish” (Jonah 1:1-3).
Continue reading “The Sign of Jonah: Jesus’ Use of Scripture”
As I have already written in so many of these contemplations, I grew up in a very orthodox Church and family and took upon myself a concept of a God of wrath and judgment that struck terror in my soul. I spent over 50 years attempting to love this God and feel loved by Him. I didn’t dare question anything I had been taught because I was so frightened of being deceived.
Whatever we conceive God to be in our consciousness is the way we experience God—because our experience is objectified consciousness—individual and collective.
August 25, 2017
Because I was working on the contemplation How We Experience God (beginning with Adam and Eve), I was just systematically reading the book of Genesis. I read that immediately after the flood God had compassion upon mankind, knowing that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21).He again gave man dominion over all the rest of creation and even gave him permission to eat meat (9:2-3).
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God
The Bible opens with these words. And the apostle John reiterates them in his gospel:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[May 6, 2015] I have been in hell, that place of torment, fear, depression and despair. I knew all the promises of God concerning the peace that passes all our understanding. But there was no peace. I became obsessed with my physical body and death. I could think of little else. Nothing could distract me from these fears—cooking, cleaning, exercise, listening to tapes, reading books, watching TV, traveling—nothing at all. I almost wished I would die, but I was afraid of dying. I was afraid of everything. I almost wished I would get Alzheimer’s so I could get some relief. My pills I got for what my doctor called an “anxiety disorder” would sometimes seem to work (if I was tired enough to go to sleep), but at other times it was like eating candy.
There’s a song from The Sound of Music
that goes something like this:
As Christians, we have attempted to worship God as portrayed in the Old Testament (a god of wrath, judgment and punishment) and also the God of the New Testament revealed by Jesus as Father and by Paul as Christ, the Father who judges no man John 5:22, the God who has mercy upon all,
Romans 11:32, the Christ in whom there is no condemnation John 8:11; Romans 8:1
God has not only shown me a parable of my attempts to relate to the law god (see Life Is a Parable); He has also given me a parable to show me what it looks like to relate to the true God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our everyday lives are parables wherein God speaks to us, as Jesus did to the people of His day.