Trite Old Testament Moralisms

I stumbled upon a particular church website today and noticed their series description for Jonah. This is just a sampling of the kind of trite moralistic readings that many churches are well known for when it comes to the Old Testament!

"Jonah was a simple man with a simple message, but the world didn’t listen to him. So Jonah became angry, discouraged and lost his patience…something we can all understand."

Uh, really, Jonah was mad because the people of Nineveh didn't listen to him???

⁴ On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." ⁵ The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. ⁶ When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. ⁷ Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. ⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. ⁹ Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."¹⁰ When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Sounds like they listened to Jonah to me! The reason Jonah was mad was because the nation that he despised as a horrible, wicked people DID listen to his message, repented, and were spared destruction from the LORD.

But it doesn't end there....

"Yet the story of Jonah shows us that sometimes it takes a miraculous act, like being swallowed into the belly of a fish, for God to get our attention. We all have a mission to live out no matter what the world throws our way. Are you ready to pursue something greater than yourself?"

Really? This is what Jonah teaches us? A moral tale that sometimes God has to do something big to get our attention? I cannot think of a more self-centered reading of this text.

Could it be about:
-the necessity of God's judgment of evil?
-God working through His (reluctant) people to communicate mercy to others?
-God graciously granting mercy to people when they repent?
-The fact that God's "chosen people" may in fact be those who are unrepentant.
-Not getting angry at God when he shows mercy on those we see as incredibly wicked and deserving of judgment?
-God's great compassion upon everyone that turns to Him?
-A story teaching that Israel is forfeiting the grace that could be their by begrudging God's grace to the Gentiles and ways in which we may be doing the same thing?

No, of course not, it's a story about we've all got a mission to live out no matter what God throws our way!

What's worse than a church preaching a crummy reading of a powerful story is the fact that they are teaching their people every week how to read the Bible poorly! It's really discouraging to see stuff like that.

Mount St. Helens

Yesterday Travis Moore, Mike Anders and I climbed Mount St. Helens which is something I've been wanting to do for a while. The opportunity came up rather suddenly so there was no time to get some training hikes in (unfortunately). Therefore it was a little tougher than it should have been (I'm understating this). It was a great experience however and once we got over the rim of Helens it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

We left at 5:30am, drove to Helens, started our hike at about 7:45am. We arrived at the summit at around 1:15pm and then made it back to our car by 5pm. It was a long, tiring day but it was worth it. Here are a few pics, i posted a bunch more on facebook.

Suffering

Last week @ Evergreen we talked about suffering which is always difficult because of how personal an experience it is. I was struck by the enormity of suffering that even a small church like ours had experienced. Specifically, we had two men with us who had both lost wives early (what do I have to teach them about suffering?) and one woman who is currently experiencing excruciating back pain and is in need of a very costly surgery but without insurance.

In light of that however, I must say that we've got some great sufferers. That may sound weird but it is inspiring to see people endure difficulty with such faith and courage. M'liss specifically has been a great model of what it means to be faithful to the Lord even in terrible, extended seasons of pain. She has hung in there and repeatedly affirmed her trust in God and it has been very inspiring.

She has been trying to find a way to have this very necessary surgery (if she wants to continue to walk) performed since she does not have insurance. She was turned down by the Oregon Health Plan and just last week received devastating news. The surgery was to cost 293,000 dollars! That's right! That is how much they said she would have to pay. Obviously this was a huge blow and she left a message on my phone while I was in class very distraught but STILL affirming her faith that God was going to act. For the next day and a half I just felt the weight of this and felt terrible that there was nothing we as her community could really do for her.

But then I received another call on Saturday. M'liss said that the surgeon called and asked her how she was doing. She relayed what the hospital had quoted her on the surgery and he was outraged! He said that the fact that they gave her that number was ridiculous. Then he told her, "I don't care what the cost is, we're going to schedule the surgery for August 3rd and get this done with and we'll worry about the cost later." Following that, she found out that he is simply going to charge Medicare 3,000 dollars for the surgery, which is the amount she will be responsible for! Unbelievable! I can't imagine what a relief this has got to be for M'liss and an incredible answer to prayer.

Praise God for an amazing surgeon! I'm very thankful that M'liss is part of our community to be a model of perseverance and faith for us all. This has been an incredible illustration of a person desperately and faithfully seeking God. And further, one of these stories where God comes through big time.

Islam is of the devil

Just saw this "non-story" here.

I think I'm most offended by how poorly constructed this sign is. It looks like they put no effort into this at all. Seriously, was that a 1st grade kids craft? :)

Picture Quiz

Can you name that weak looking kid on the right???

Bend

I came down to Bend on a short excursion with Kelli. She had a Salvation Army work thing going on so I tagged along (I was her chauffeur). The thing about Bend is that it has about 7-8 breweries so we had to stop in a few so I could check out the beer scene down here.

Deschutes Brewery

I was surprised by how small the Deschutes Brewery was in Bend. After seeing the enormous space in Portland I was expecting huge things but it was rather small and quaint and I actually liked it all the more for that reason. With my sampler tray at Deschutes I basically tried all of the seasonals which you can see listed out.

This was very good stuff. My favorites were the Saison and the Mirror Mirror Barleywine. I've seen the Barleywine in 22 ounce bottles but it is fairly pricey so I've avoided it. But this was aged for 8 months in a variety of barrels (including Oak, Port, Pinot Noir, and Bourbon) which gives it a very complex and warm taste. I may buy a bottle and save it for the dead of winner. The Miss Spelt was also good, having a rich banana, clove flavor that is uniquely German.











This may be hard to see with this picture, but the guy in the picture in the front patio is at Deschutes, but he decided to order a St. Pauli Girl in the bottle! Uh, ok.
















Cascade Lakes Brewery





















This was the first brewery we visited. They had the largest sized samples I've ever seen! These are samples? Yikes.

Most of the people there were ordering the Blonde Bombshell which, for a Blonde Ale was nice and refreshing. But I think like most blonde ales' or pilsners it's more a beer for people who aren't beer drinkers.

My favorite here was the IPA which was unique in the fact that it has much more of a grain profile than most IPA's. The IBU's were really low, at 50, which I'm not even sure falls in the Northwest IPA range, but it was nice to drink regardless.

Enjoyed the food as well.























Bend Brewing Co.

I think that was probably my favorite brewery in Bend. Lots of variety, and the sampler they give you is RIDICULOUSLY huge. Seriously, they give you a sample of everything they have on tap!

The best beers here were the Wild Blue Yonder Oregon Amber. Very sweet, enjoyed it more than Drop Top. The Elk Lake IPA was quality as well. They have a Hop Head Imperial IPA in the 22 ounce bottle that won a Gold Medal back in 2006, and a bronze in 2008. I grabbed a bottle on my way out and am excited for an upcoming occasion to break it out. This was a really nice local brew pub. I highly recommend checking it out.






























A few other beers I got to try at lunch and dinner were:

10 Barrell Brewing Co. Summer Ale - If you're into Coors, you'll probably like this. :( I truly have very little appreciation for wimpy beers.

Three Creeks Brewery IPA - Dave Fleming, the guy who was the brewmaster at the Lucky Lab now works for Three Creeks. Definitely tastes like a Dave Fleming beer!



Don't worry everyone, the pregnant one among us just had milk! Seriously.


















This is just a random pic of a strange bush that I thought may attack. Seriously, doesn't that look creepy?

Also, on a final note, it probably looks like all I've done is drink beer in the last few days. Let's keep in mind that these were all just little sampler trays! Ok, I feel better.