American Unitarian Conference Forum

Full Version: Thoughts to Contemplate -- October
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Day
1.  If you had walked in the Way of God, you would be living in peace forever.
     Bar 3.13

2.  Many generations have seen the light of day, and have lived upon the earth; but they
     have not learned the Way to knowledge, nor understood her paths, nor laid hold of
     Her.  Bar 3.20

3.  The storytellers and the seekers for understanding have not learned the way to wisdom
     or given thought to her paths.  Bar 3.23

4.  Great is the House of God.  It is great and has no bounds.
     Bar 3.24-25

5.  Just as you were disposed to go astray from God, the Father, return with tenfold zeal
     to seek Him.  Bar 4.28

6.  Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction.  Put on the robe of the righteousness
     that comes from the One God, our Father.  Bar 5.1-2

7.  The Lord God said, 'You shall not put an innocent and righteous person to death.'
     Sus .53

8.  I do not revere idols made with hands, but the Living God, our Father, who created
     heaven and earth and has dominion over all living creatures.  Bel .5

9.  May God do good to you, and may we remember his covenant is with His Faithful
     Children.  2 Mac 1.2

10.  May the Lord God, your Father, give you all a heart to worship Him and to do His will
      with a strong heart and a willing spirit.  2 Mac 1.3

11.  Now I urge those who read this book not to be depressed by calamities, but to
      recognize that these punishments were designed not to destroy but to discipline
      our people.  2 Mac 6.12

12.  You must realize that women rule over you!
      2 Mac 4.22

13.  Truth endures and is strong forever and lives and prevails forever and ever.  With it there
      is no partiality or preference, but it does what is righteous instead of anything that is
      unrighteous or wicked.  1 Esdras 4.38-39

14.  You, O Lord God, Father and God of the righteous have not appointed repentance for
      the righteous, but you have appointed repentance for the sinner.  PrMan .8

15.  God, who oversees all things, the first Father of all, Holy among the holy ones, having
      heard the lawful supplication, scourged him who had exalted himself in insolence and
      audacity.  3 Mac 2.21

16.  What shall I do to you?  You will not obey me.  I will turn to others and will give them
      my name, so that they may keep my words.  2 Esdras 1.24

17.  Because you have forsaken me, your Father, I also will forsake you.  When you beg
      mercy of me, I will not listen to you.  It is not as though you have forsaken only me,
      you have forsaken yourselves, says the Lord, our Father.  2 Esdras 1.25-27

18.  Have I not entreated you as a Father entreats his sons or a mother her daughters, or
      a nurse her children, so that you should be my people and I should be your God, and
      that you should be my children and I should be your Father?  2 Esdras 1.28-29

19.  Do not be in a greater hurry than the Most High.  You, indeed, are in a hurry for
       yourself, but the Highest is in a hurry on behalf of many.  2 Esdras 4.34

20.  He said to me, : I shall liken my judgment to a circle, just as for those who are last
       there is no slowness, so for those who are first there is no haste.  2 Esdras 5.42

21.  The burden of the Lord God you shall mention no more, for the burden is everyone's
       own word.  Jer 23.36

22.  I will give them a heart to know that "I am" -- the Lord God their Father; and they shall
      be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
      Jer 24.7

23.  Do not let the prophets and the diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not
      listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you
      in my name; I did not send them, says the Lord.  Jer 29.8

24.  Surely I know the plans I have for you. says the Lord God, plans for your welfare and
      not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  Jer 29.11

25.  When you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you.  When you search
      for me, you will find me; If you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says
      the Lord our God, our Father.  Jer 29.12-14

26.  "I am"; --the Lord -- the Father -- the God of All flesh.
       Jer 32.27

27.  My people, my children, have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray.
      Jer 50.6

28.  This I call to mind, and therefore, I have hope;  The steadfast love of the Lord God, our
      Father, never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.
     Lam 3.21-23

29.  Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord God, our Father.
      Lam 3.40

30.  Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the children of God; Whenever you hear a word
      from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  Ez 3.17

31.  According to their way, I will deal with them; according to their own judgments, I will
      judge them, and they shall know that "I am" -- the Lord, their God, their Father.
      Ez 7.27
At what point did God stop speaking...verbally, to the "prophets"? What is the latest, last recorded verbal communication in the Old Testament? How is it explained that God no longer speaks to us? I am not referring to those internal feelings, thoughts, insights that we may attribute to a divine source.....what happened (if it ever really took place) with God's active presence in the world? Many have said our "sin" is responsible for God withdrawing..or to put it differently, for our inability to find God. However, were the prophets without sin? God is said to have spoke directly to them....so why did it stop? Has all been communicated that needs to be? Even if Jesus is considered, at the very least, a prophet...is there no need to continue the interaction with humanity? Are we on our own? Of course, there have been other claims...Mohammad, Joseph Smith, Baha' u'llah'....but not all accept their legitimacy.
If we are to understand the prophets as speaking from an internal psychological, mystical state that is not presented in the texts...
I think the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that God never "spoke" per se directly (verbally, orally, out loud) to anyone. Some people seemed to respond to God but I find it impossible to believe that God ever spoke as Judaism claims without begging the question why She later stopped direct contact. As a friend of mine sarcastically put it, God evidently got tired of the flight (or as I replied, perhaps Nietzsche was right-God is dead...after all of the problems humanity caused perhaps the One keeled over from a heavenly heart attack!)
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