Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: September 3, 2005
Good Sabbath
September 3 , 2005
"These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted. Noah walked with God.." After ten generations from Adam to Noah, the earth was corrupt in God's eyes and was filled with violence. Weary of the evil of mankind, God decides to destroy all living flesh through a great flood. The flood lasts 40 days. At the end, God blesses Noah and says, "be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." The rainbow is left as a pledge that God will not destroy the earth by flood again.
Remember that we were created in the image of God, as He adds to Noah the first commandments, "whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood he shed for in the image of God, man was created. The society that was destroyed by the flood was crude, animalistic, amoral, depraved and corrupt. Next is the prohibition of blasphemy; next is the prohibition of idolatry, next incest, and finally against bloodshed and robbery.
It has seemed to me for a long time, that this amorality again rules humankind, that we have forgotten the flood and the commandments-except to sporadically repeat them from service to service-but only in the religious institution. Corruption is a way of modern capitalism and in fact we act as if God were dead, so what's to fear-if we own a gun and have the power of money? Plenty!
The lessons of Noah included that evil resides in man';s mind from his youth; there are good and there are evil impulses that vie with each other in every person. Ecclesiastes reminds us, "for there is not one good man on earth who does what is best and does not err." (chap7:20)
"Seek good and not evil
That you may live
And that God
May truly be with you,
As you think.
Hate evil and love good
And establish justice." (Amos, chap 5 verse 14-15)
God warns us not to hate each other because of skin color.
In this new flood, we see TV images of the good and the evil as well as the politics of evil. We see masses of black people-most of the poor (according to professors rationalizing racism)--without money, possessions, credit cards, transportation, waiting to see what others will do with them and for them. We read of the holier-than-thou who condemn the desperate for stealing food. We still build cases to decry the different skinned-no matter how desperate or forlorn they may be. We have our passions but leave our compassion in some theoretical value system--not daily life.
How can we witness the horror visited upon the people of the Gulf Coast without our hearts and our goodness being extended to them. This is no time to be human without being humane. We are not the politicians always making excuses for inaction; we cannot be the observers always looking for someone at whom to point our fingers for blame. This is the time when we remember Noah and God's reasons for punishing us. God is perfect compared with humans but knows that He is imperfect as He evolves in each human generation, trying to implore us to be better--not holier than any one else, just good to each other.
Humans have evolved into thoughtless people who have no time to take responsibility for our own actions; it is fate, or someone else, or him or her, or a group. That kind of conceit is unworthy of any who say that they believe in God!
Now we seek those on whom we can place blame for the nightmare of this flood. The politicians run for cover as their apologists circle the wagons to protect their leader and their kind. In the meantime, the poor become poorer, dispossessed of dignity or opportunity. I have no understanding of why so much disaster is visited upon them. Fate seeks them out in trailer court or mega-stadium. There is no rest for the poor, little hope except what we-the truly blessed-can bestow upon them. At this time we pray for the survival of our fellow-humans, no matter their race, creed or faith. That is what we promised God millennia ago, before we became capitalists, before we were converted to worship our possessions, before humankind became less than a brand name for our toys, before we corrupted what Moses was given, Christ preached, Islam invented or Gandhi urged.
We have corrupted wisdom itself in our lust for riches and affluence. I've warned before that God is looking for another Noah; perhaps this is the second chapter.
Be good this Sabbath; remember the dispossessed, contribute to others' comfort and safety and insist that our leaders do it also, without excuse or procrastination. May this flood float our goodness to its surface and we be better for this epic disaster.
sandy
