Heschel opens up his first chapter by explaining the role of the Prophet and the burdens they carry. He stats that the prophets are scandilized and rave as if the whole world were a slum. This quote made me wonder about those people who are preaching out in the streets, and we all just walk right past them thinking them to be crazed lunatics. What if they are speaking the truth and we just completely disregard it because we choose to be deaf to God's word. It was just a thought. One quote from Heschel that really stirred me was this one:
"Man is rebellious and full of iniquity, and yet so cherished is he that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is saddened when forsaken by him." After reading this one line, I couldn't help but feel a little sad. I knew that God loved us so, but to see it in print made me really think about it.
We, as human beings, sin against God every day without even the slightest remorse or thought about it. I felt pretty terrible about it. Yet, no matter how many times we mess up, he is always willing to forgive us because his love for us is just so great. I believe that was the most influential thing I read in that chapter.
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the power of god's forgiveness and grace is incredible, but too many times we hide behind this to defend the stupid stuff we tend to do. yes, we should want to live as sinless as possible, but achieving this would mean that we were jesus- clearly the only sinless human to walk the earth.
ReplyDeletejesus' love rocks. i would agree with that.
I got the exact same vision when reading the first chapter, the people out preaching on the streets. If someone in this time where a prophet there is no way anyone would stop to listen and believe. They would for sure be ignored and looked down upon. It is scary to think we could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I must have skipped right over the quote that you took out. But reading over what you said I can see how it would make you sad. I know that before I have felt like I was almost taking advantage of the fact that we can be forgiven for any wrong we do. But I guess all we can do is try the best we can.
I was thinking the same thing about those people that stand on street corners and literally yell God's word at whoever passes by, or my favorite "The end is coming!" It seems ridiculous to think but aren't those the people God tends to work through? The one's society rejects? I'm not saying the few that talk about the world's end are in that group, because honestly the few times i've heard that one, those people did look a little crazed, but what about the others? Who are we to say they don't speak the truth?
ReplyDeleteI highlighted that quote as well! It really did make me think. It's hard to think that we do things each day that we know are not right, yet we continue to do them. I personally have tried lately to think about the things that I do that I know are not right and that I need to change about myself. I don't think that we really know exactly what is right to do and what is wrong to do, but I think that we have a good idea of what we really should not do. One message that I really take seriously is to love others and to treat them as your brothers and sisters. I think of the times that I have said negative things about people or have treated them badly, and I know that is something that we shouldn't do. That's just an example. But I do know that we sometimes take advantage of God's love, and need to think about being more grateful!
ReplyDeleteSo, now that we have this perspective: both that we should maybe listen to those we think are crazy and that we need to be aware of how G-d needs us (not just the other way around), how do we respond or act differently?
ReplyDelete