Don't Know Much About History (classic song, 1970s, Faith Heritage Continued)

Hello Grafted In Readers,

Today is March 27, in my corner of blog land.

I titled this post, Don't Know Much About History, based on a popular song in the recent past sung by various artists, which espouses romantic love as a certainty even though the lyricist claims not to be an expert in the humanities. Recently, I learned from some discussion with others that history today focuses on the reason for events as opposed to when events occurred. When we read Bible stories, there is a school of thought called Purpose History that encourages a similar approach. It encourages us to ask:
Who is the audience? What are they being told? What reaction might they have to what they're being told?
What is the ultimate result of this information they have received?
How would you or how do you respond to this?

This removes the us versus them or minimizes it. You realize human beings were living and responding to something occurring then for some reason. For example, the last three minor prophets wrote after the Israelites returned from 70 years of exile to Babylon. Conditions were pretty bad and these committed people had to rebuild the temple, rebuild Jerusalem, and rebuild life as once known. They took their sweet time in doing so, and Haggi, the prophet, urged them with God's message to do otherwise, which they did!

Today, the Christian church still likes to blame the Israelites for being neglectful, forgetful, sarcastic, accusing, misinformed, and that Yeshua and G-d had it with the old covenant and instituted something brand-spanking new that is the be all and end all. Now, just love your neighbor as yourself and love God. That's it. Nothing else required. Soon, the hymn of the day may be, "All You Need Is Love" by the Beetles; some argue for their song, "Imagine."
Have the rules changed, asks writer Skip Moen.
Author Skip Moen makes some telling observations on how the Christian church may be doing with this mode of peration:
I say, congratulations Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Church of Christ, Quakers, Christian Reformed, American Baptists, Southern Baptists, Evangelicals, you're doing a "damn" good job. Woohoo!

1. Do justice – recent reports rank the USA near the bottom of countries with equal opportunities for self-realization. We might quibble over the measurement, but any serious look at our society certainly demonstrates a lack of justice.
2. Righteousness – since the Bible defines righteousness as alignment with Torah in relation to God, even a cursory review of American society shrieks disconnect here. The fact that American religious institutions lead the way against Torah should be enough to make us shudder.
3. Deliver the one who has been robbed of power – Today’s legal environment seems to do just the opposite. Coddle to the one in power. Ignore the oppressed. On a national scale, we fail.
4. Do not mistreat – The Bible lists those near to God’s heart. As far as I can tell, the stranger, orphan and widow have a very difficult time in this society. There are approximately 400,000 children in foster care in the USA. Perhaps we find solace in the fact that there are 60 million orphans in Asia, but what excuse is there for 400,000 in the richest nation on earth?
5. Innocent blood – Since Roe v. Wade, almost 60 million children have been killed before they were born. They are the most innocent of all innocents. Did we think there were no spiritual-social consequences for this atrocity?
Jeremiah is right. We have the results. In Jeremiah’s time it led to Babylon. Do you think God changed the rules somewhere along the way?

Kevod Yeheveh, His presence become your shalom!

Mellow Rock