Brilliant as usual Ross. I'd never heard the point made about Jericho being a rock that needed to be spoken to and not struck, but an important point to show how God needed a man who would obey in small and big ways to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.
I enjoyed this. I have followed JP like you, first finding him in 2018 with his Genesis lectures, but also like you, I'm not an avid fan, just somebody interested in his thinking. I believe it is still his ego that keeps him fully committing to the power and love of God, but I believe one day he will submit. I pray for that. He has influenced me for the better.
The rest of your essay has me praying more than ever that I can do the right thing when representing my king. Today I am starting a book/Bible Study with middle schoolers on the book I wrote, The Rebel's Hike, with the help of one of them (when she was in middle school). I am now both terrified and encouraged.
As a leader in Lord's church, to be terrified and encouraged, I would say, is a great place to start! Thanks for this wonderful comment, and I hope the study is going well!
My immediate reaction, and therefore, simplistic is: (as I await your reply). It seems that God reserved some of his sternest penalties for the leaders of Israel who did not completely obey his orders. Take Saul for example, in I Samuel 15, God orders him to destroy the Amalekites: men, women, children, AND animals!!! When he destroys all of them except the choicest animals, God tells Samuel that HE regrets that He ever named him as King over His people. And, then tell Saul he rejects him as King. And yet, Saul destroyed ALL human beings except for some choice animals to consume! WOW, in 2025, this is hard stuff, Ross, and yet it was a lack of complete obedience that God condemns. How do we make sense of this? It's one of the reasons I think Andy Stanley does not preach from the Old Testament anymore, while his father practically lived in it!
Beautifully written. I have long wrestled over that passage and wondered what to make of it. It feels like a warning to me. That I must listen to the voice of God and when he says something is off limits for me it doesn't matter how many wiser and stronger Christians tell me it is reasonable or safe. There are echoes of Samson and Saul's story. It is bewildering that someone's strength could be tied to the length of their hair rather than their moral purity, except for the fact that it is what God said would be. God's voice is the thread unifying all these stories. God's voice is the one who took the kingdom away from Saul and gave it to David, though it is not always apparent to my human reasoning why David's heart was closer to God's. Your analysis is helpful and the conclusion stirring: "Perhaps I am thinking mainly of myself. But the lion awaits us all. My prayer is simply that I will remain faithful until the day he strikes. And then be able to say, with St. Paul, 'Where O Death is thy sting?'" Amen
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, Abigail. Echoes of Samson and Solomon indeed. And yes, David somehow avoids their fate in many ways, though it is not immediately clear how/why. But I think I’m starting to see it as I get older. It’s related to this very problem of role/hierarchy and how it should and should not be handled. Anyway, great thoughts.
I am tempted to write a whole piece in answer to this question. But at this point in my thinking it might be too weird. Need to keep thinking and praying about it for a month until it gets a little less weird (or at least a little more articulable) and we will see if it becomes something. But tell me your thoughts!
The true prophet's aim is to die Whole having faced the truth of our species' delusion language games. Like the generational delusion of believing that the word God is a He? And having embodied the implicit meaning of Jesus reality-wise saying "I and the Father are One?" Here in the Illusory sense of time, popularly known as 2025, following the allegorical advice of the parable-of-resurrection. By learning to embody the earth-turning reality of being-in-time, brings one face-to-face with the true Father of our Solar System, the Sun🌞
As one uses scientific information to become aware of the miracle of life within a Cosmic environment that is overwhelmingly hostile to life's existence. Recognising the simple truth of Father Sun, Mother Earth, and Sister Moonshine. And following Einstein's recommendation that the truth should be made simple but simpler, by doing justice to an innate sense that the intuitive mind is sacred gift and rational mind a faithful servant.
Beautiful essay. Your closing point reminds me of "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded:"
O make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
outlive my love for Thee.
Oh my gosh, that’s so good. Thank you so much for sharing, Richard. If I had remembered that, I would have closed with it!
Brilliant as usual Ross. I'd never heard the point made about Jericho being a rock that needed to be spoken to and not struck, but an important point to show how God needed a man who would obey in small and big ways to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.
Aw thanks man. Yes, that Jericho insight just about knocked me out of my seat.
"The air is thin and the ground exceedingly narrow in the high places where prophets stand and speak."
Powerful, Ross!
Thanks brother.
I enjoyed this. I have followed JP like you, first finding him in 2018 with his Genesis lectures, but also like you, I'm not an avid fan, just somebody interested in his thinking. I believe it is still his ego that keeps him fully committing to the power and love of God, but I believe one day he will submit. I pray for that. He has influenced me for the better.
The rest of your essay has me praying more than ever that I can do the right thing when representing my king. Today I am starting a book/Bible Study with middle schoolers on the book I wrote, The Rebel's Hike, with the help of one of them (when she was in middle school). I am now both terrified and encouraged.
As a leader in Lord's church, to be terrified and encouraged, I would say, is a great place to start! Thanks for this wonderful comment, and I hope the study is going well!
My immediate reaction, and therefore, simplistic is: (as I await your reply). It seems that God reserved some of his sternest penalties for the leaders of Israel who did not completely obey his orders. Take Saul for example, in I Samuel 15, God orders him to destroy the Amalekites: men, women, children, AND animals!!! When he destroys all of them except the choicest animals, God tells Samuel that HE regrets that He ever named him as King over His people. And, then tell Saul he rejects him as King. And yet, Saul destroyed ALL human beings except for some choice animals to consume! WOW, in 2025, this is hard stuff, Ross, and yet it was a lack of complete obedience that God condemns. How do we make sense of this? It's one of the reasons I think Andy Stanley does not preach from the Old Testament anymore, while his father practically lived in it!
Bro 🔥
Thanks man!
Beautifully written. I have long wrestled over that passage and wondered what to make of it. It feels like a warning to me. That I must listen to the voice of God and when he says something is off limits for me it doesn't matter how many wiser and stronger Christians tell me it is reasonable or safe. There are echoes of Samson and Saul's story. It is bewildering that someone's strength could be tied to the length of their hair rather than their moral purity, except for the fact that it is what God said would be. God's voice is the thread unifying all these stories. God's voice is the one who took the kingdom away from Saul and gave it to David, though it is not always apparent to my human reasoning why David's heart was closer to God's. Your analysis is helpful and the conclusion stirring: "Perhaps I am thinking mainly of myself. But the lion awaits us all. My prayer is simply that I will remain faithful until the day he strikes. And then be able to say, with St. Paul, 'Where O Death is thy sting?'" Amen
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, Abigail. Echoes of Samson and Solomon indeed. And yes, David somehow avoids their fate in many ways, though it is not immediately clear how/why. But I think I’m starting to see it as I get older. It’s related to this very problem of role/hierarchy and how it should and should not be handled. Anyway, great thoughts.
I wrote something very similar earlier this week “A Psychological Prophet for a Therapeutic Age.”
The difference between self-will even if sacrificial in heart and thy-will is astronomical.
Thanks for your wisdom, Ross!
No way! I’ll have to give that a look. Glad to know there are others thinking along the same lines.
Was Moses sin in striking the rock one of impatience or hubris? Or, neither?
I am tempted to write a whole piece in answer to this question. But at this point in my thinking it might be too weird. Need to keep thinking and praying about it for a month until it gets a little less weird (or at least a little more articulable) and we will see if it becomes something. But tell me your thoughts!
The true prophet's aim is to die Whole having faced the truth of our species' delusion language games. Like the generational delusion of believing that the word God is a He? And having embodied the implicit meaning of Jesus reality-wise saying "I and the Father are One?" Here in the Illusory sense of time, popularly known as 2025, following the allegorical advice of the parable-of-resurrection. By learning to embody the earth-turning reality of being-in-time, brings one face-to-face with the true Father of our Solar System, the Sun🌞
As one uses scientific information to become aware of the miracle of life within a Cosmic environment that is overwhelmingly hostile to life's existence. Recognising the simple truth of Father Sun, Mother Earth, and Sister Moonshine. And following Einstein's recommendation that the truth should be made simple but simpler, by doing justice to an innate sense that the intuitive mind is sacred gift and rational mind a faithful servant.