Counterfeit: Job 4-5 (religion)

So, Job's friend Eliphaz decides to talk to Job. I can't really figure out what his goal was. Was he trying to comfort him? Or was he trying to belittle him? It's such a close line between the two I get confused sometimes.

Anyways..the verses that caught my eye:

4:6 Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

(This would be considered complete blasphemy today, which is probably why we demonize Job's friends throughout the entire book, always discounting their advice, even though it's actually a narrative version of any of the wisdom you would find in Proverbs.)

5:8 But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.

(I know this is super cliche, but sometimes I can't help it. Amidst everything, no matter what the situation, this is always a good plan. Lay all that you have before him: your hopes and dreams, your fears, your disappointments. When we truly do surrender all that we are, we end up on the other side ruined for what I've dubbed 'cultural christianity'.)

5:18 For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.

(So often people look at this verse and focus on the second part of each phrase. People want to be reminded of how good God is to us, he will always be there for us. But I think it is a fatal error to miss the beginnings of these phrases. He wounds. He injures. Life is not going to be rainbows and butterflies because God is going to hurt us. Shoot, he forsook his own son while he was on the cross. Why do we forget that God will test our faith and put us through hard times to see how much we truly love and trust him.)

Overall, Eliphaz's response was to be expected. Remember what your religion has taught you. As much as we would like to say that in times of trouble we look to the Bible for an explanation, we don't. We look to all that 'cultural christianity' has taught us. We do the same thing as Eliphaz did to Job.

We quote Bible verses like Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" Or Philippians 1:6, "he who began a good work will carry it on to completion". Personally, those verses, used in this way, tend to make me gag. I hate the way we throw verses around as a way to avoid (or really ignore) suffering. They probably don't actually apply to the situation and do very little to make people feel better.

Might I suggest a different way?

Why don't we sit with people in their suffering? Acknowledge the suckiness of life and recognize there is no way we can fix it. And cliche bible verses don't make it better. Instead, be with people when they are in pain. I know it makes us super uncomfortable because so much of the American mindset is to avoid pain at all costs. But stop trying to offer the light at the end of the tunnel. Stop trying to point people to the hope that God's Word promises and instead be the hands and feet of Jesus in comforting through your presence. Instead of quoting a bible verse and running away from a situation that makes you uncomfortable because you can't fix it, be uncomfortable so that you can be with the person you care about. That shows God's love so much more than a few words could ever do.

I know I don't have any concrete bible verses to back this up...but it seems to be what I've seen expressed throughout the bible as a whole, not in any one particular verse. When you come into a situation that requires wisdom, don't remember what your religion has taught you. Don't quote some cliche bible verse out of context. Look to the character of God as portrayed in the bible. Don't rely on your religion to have the answers to all your problems. Your God will always be there, but sometimes he lets you suffer and simply says, "I love you."

Conclusion: God. Always go back to God. Always.

Counterfeit: Job 1-3 (life sucks sometimes)

So, I was a little further along in Job but I decided to start over 1)because I got a new bible, 2)because I started a new blog, and 3)because I'd been in job for like a month and I'd only read 9 chapters. Starting everything together makes me happy, it's all nice, even, and organized (can you see my slight OCD coming out yet?)

Anyway, I don't have a lot of time, so it's gonna be a quick post, which is fine since this is my first one anyway.

I read Job 1-3 this morning, and man does it suck. I mean, everything gets taken away from him. All of his wealth, his children, everything gone! And then his wife goes and tells him to curse God and die. What a great wife. In chapter 3 he then curses the day he was born and wishes that he never had been.

The classic Christian response to this kind of passage would be "Man, my life really doesn't look that bad in comparison to Job's. I should really be grateful for all that God has blessed me with. And then I'll go ahead an quote the infamous verse "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." or "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" You learn to endure through the hardship, knowing it could be worse, and then blame Satan for being so horrible.

Well, that's all nice and dandy, but it's not quite what I got it from it this time. Reading about Job's horrible life made all the bad stuff in my life seem so much worse. Suddenly, everything in my life was pure shit. My lack of boyfriend, my crazy roommates, the distance between me and God: mylifesucks!

But it's okay that my life sucks. It does that sometimes. I think if it's okay for Job to curse the day that he was born and wish that it had never happened, it's okay for me to do the same. I can look at my life and not be super please with it. It's okay to have a bad day and really hate life. There is no need to put some "everything will work out in the end" spin onto a crappy situation. Let me be freaking pissed at the world for a day. Emotions are healthy.

Wait...what?

So, I've grown a bit complacent in my walk with God. I still go to church and and pray sometimes, but it's been a while since I last read the word. It's just gotten a bit repetitive for me. I've read it so many times before that it's hard for me to find anything new in it. *Gasp* How dare a devoted Christian grow tired of the scriptures! It is a living word that meets us right where we are each time we open it! Ya, ya, ya, but I'm broken and in a place that only sees what I've been taught or learned last time I read it. Not anything that inspires me or teaches me or guides me.

Anyway, in an effort to do more than just read (because it so often proves fruitless) I'm going to try reflecting about what I've read, right here! I'm kind of excited, slightly anxious. I sometimes feel like if I can't do it perfectly (and everyday) that it's not worth doing. But I know that's not the case. I'm also planning on being ridiculously honest, more honest than I've ever been about anything on the internet. People I know might see me differently. Oh well. It doesn't really matter.

I've been slightly inspired by this girl and this one. They're pretty cool. They are who they are, serving Jesus all the while. They don't conform to "industry standards" of what a Christian should be like. But they love God and it comes through in what they write. I hope to be like them a little bit.

We'll see how this goes.

I wanted to come up with a cool name for these little posts, something in the title to tell you it's gonna be about the Bible and not something else. I started with the term reflect, well, because that's what I'm doing. I want to reflect on what I've read. But I have this bias against anything remotely Christian-ese, I just can't handle it. So, I looked it up in an online theaurus (hooray for being a college graduate and knowing how to make myself sound smart!).

After clicking around a bit, I came to the word counterfeit. I know it has this harsh, really unChristian connotation, but thats what I like about it. My reflections are counterfeit representations of what the word really says. And I'm trying to pass them off as real, as life changing. I'm sure I'll be changed in the process, but I won't notice it. I'll probably still feel like a fake, masquerading as an insightful person who's writing things worth reading. ;-)

So, let the journey begin and we shall see where it takes me!

Emotionally Lying

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately. Most of them are by peoople I know who are adventuring abroad or embarking on big life plans. But some are by people I don't know. Most of these are by Christians, but a few are not.

As I read them, I find that Christian writers tend to frustrate me. Not all the time. But there are certain ones that feel fake, or forced. As I read them, I feel as though the writer has this obligation to make it happy, inspiring, or to give it the "everything works out in the end" spin. That kind of mentality makes me angry. It frustrates me, a lot.

But it got me thinking. Why do some Christians feel the need to put a positive spin on everything? It's like they can't let themselves be angry or frustrated, as if those are somehow 'bad' emotions. I think being honest about how life sucks sometimes is way healthier and understandable than putting a positive spine on everything! I know it's them trying not to dwell on the bad mood, or trying to find a way out of a dark place. But I think it's just as important to recognize the dark place for what it is. We are humans, we go through tough times. Stop feeling and seeing the world how you think you are supposed to see it and just be honest about what it is for you in the moment you are in it!