His Burden is Light

Have you ever wondered why the Ten Commandments repeatedly say, "Thou Shalt Not"? Not, "Thou should not," or "Thou must not," but, "Thou shalt not."  "Should", speaks of what is right, and "Must" speaks of what is commanded, but both what is right and what is commanded may be disobeyed. That there is a difference in meaning between these words and "shall" is evident, although we tend to gloss over it as though it were merely a rhetorical flourish.  The Bible never uses words solely for rhetorical flourish, as those words would be vain.  Everything is meaningful.  When the prophet asks, "And the prophets, do they live for ever?" (Zech 1:5b), the rhetorically implied answer is no but the true answer is also yes.  So let us look at the commonly understood rhetorical meaning first. The Commandments were given to the children of Israel to be obeyed. But the Israelites failed to obey, making and bowing down to a ...

"And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day."  Deut 6:24 Notice that the children of Israel were commanded to fear God for their good always, and that the fear of the LORD is linked to obedience to all His statutes.  In other words, the fear of the LORD makes us obedient to God and this obedience results in our good. "T hou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD ."  Lev 19:14 The deaf man cannot hear what you are saying, and the blind man cannot see who made him trip and fall, but the LORD sees and hears and is displeased by this cruel and mocking behaviour, as He is kind, even to the unthankful and the evil. So this behaviour is tempting God to reward the one doing it with what he deserves, and someone who fears God does not tempt God to punish them. So again we see that the fear of God...

What does this mean? It is one of the most alarming statements made by John the Baptist in his call to repentance, as it obviously contains threat of imminent danger. But beyond that general message that repentance is required by God now  in order to avert disaster, what precisely is meant by this saying? For a long time I had this vague sense of the meaning of the saying but only this morning did the refined question arise in my heart, and with the correct question, the answer almost instantly. I had always asked, Who is wielding this axe? Since we know that the call is repentance unto God, surely it is God who will punish the refusal. Ultimately, He is the One who wields the axe. As when the king of Assyria (the antichrist) shall glory in himself but God's rebuke is that he is simply a tool commanded by God. "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against...

     Wonder Woman (2017) has been highly regarded as an excellent example of the superhero movie. Updated international box office receipts totaled $821.74 million (US), making it the highest-grossing superhero origin film ever made. Indeed, I found it to be an enjoyable movie. It has a certain subtlety when it comes to its themes, most notably feminism, and because of this subtlety it was easy to accept, and at times, tempting to agree. Men were not always cardboard-cutouts suited to a feminist narrative and Wonder Woman was occasionally depicted as feminine, even traditionally so. I laughed along with the humorous sections and I appreciated the action sequences. The only troubling aspect that I perceived on my first time watching the film is the reason I chose to review it for this blog: it puts Wonder Woman in the place of Jesus Christ! Frequently, the film maps itself onto the Gospel account by applying key elements of the life of Christ to the character of Wonder Wom...