It's No Joke

The other day, I received an e-mail to which I have given some thought.  There is more to think about than to consider it just another joke.  I don't find it particularly funny.  See what you think.

‘One day God was looking down at earth and saw the entire rascally behavior that was going on...
So He called His angels and sent one to earth for a time.  When the angel returned, she told God, 'Yes, it is bad on earth; 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not.  God thought for a moment and said, “Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion.”

So God called another angel and sent her to earth for a time.  When the angel returned she went to God and said, “Yes, it's true. The earth is in decline; 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good.”  God was not pleased, so sHE decided to e-mail the 5% who were good, because sHe wanted to encourage them, and give them a little something to help them keep going.
Do you know what the e-mail said?

Okay, I was just wondering, because I didn't get one either.’  -By an anonymous person

This forwarded e-mail has such an important message.  The intention of the person who wrote it was to have us laugh, and yet I didn't find it funny.  Actually, I thought, because it was most likely designed to cause a laugh, that it was just the opposite.  Think about it and you will see that everyone, according to these figures, is destined to go to Hell.   Consequently, all are ineligible for the promise that God gave us, which is, as most of us have read in John 3:16; "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

If everyone is misbehaving, as the story says, and disregards God, then that's "curtains" for him or her.  I can't make a joke of something so wonderful as the gift of eternal life.  It was given to us simply because we believe in God having created all things and that He loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son to pay for our forgiveness for misbehaving.  Those who are misbehaving, (which is just another word for sinning), are turning their shoulders to God.  It is if they are saying, " I don't need you; I'm having too much fun just doing what I want to do.  Besides that, I plan to continue after I'm done with this world, by cavorting with my friends in Hell, the place about which we like to joke.  There, I'll have a great time with all my friends.  Yes, in Hell I'll have a great time!"

Well, think about it.  We can't expect to find any friends there.  Who could we trust?"  "Everyone knows it's the place where murderers and thieves end up, and besides, it's described as a smoldering ash pit where sinful people abide forever and ever.  Could you say they would be enjoying their days? 

I wonder if this article was meant to be a joke or to be considered as something to provoke our sensibilities into thinking that we should appreciate what God has given us, and to be reminded that God so loved the world?  Should we not remember that we must love God too?  Some will laugh about this "joke" and others, like me, will read it with sadness and think about those who will be missing out on being with their Lord and Saviour forever.

In the Bible, God is referred to as He.  We remember the prayer that Jesus taught us, beginning with, "Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name."  He never, ever, referred to His Father in Heaven as sHe, whatever gender that is?

You might thank the author of the "joke" for at least provoking me, to write my thoughts about it.  As the expression goes, "It ain't no joke!"  We see it as it is, and that Jesus gave us the order to protect our friends from this kind of thinking, by saying, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel."  We have a responsibility for our friends and to those who aren't our friends just yet, but who will thank us some day for warning them against such falseness as we saw in that Email.  A final thought is about what Jesus taught when He said, "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends." Soon afterwards, He did just that, for He gave His life for His friends and even for His enemies.  That is, for all who would believe.

By the way, who is this person called, sHe?

Vision Impairment

With considerable interest, I read the story of the man who was born blind and was miraculously given his eyesight.  It was the first time in his life that he was able to see and it would have been an amazing day for him.  It was a day worth remembering and celebrating.  Besides celebrating the miracle of this man receiving his sight, it was an occasion for others to join with him in praise, to acknowledge the actuality of something considered impossible, but obviously, not for God.  To no one before had this happened, and it would be unlikely to happen again. 

Being an optometrist, I took a particular interest.  I’ve experienced joy with patients whose eyesight was considerably improved and I’ve joined with others, thankful to God that I was able to prevent them from becoming blind.  Never, have I witnessed anyone given perfectly good eyesight that had been blind from birth.  It would have been wonderful to behold.  Only God could perform such a miracle.

For this man, it was an exceptional day; one in which to be thankful, except, no one pondered the wonder of the miracle.  Instead, they questioned who did it and said that whoever it was that gave him his eyesight, did so on the Sabbath, which wasn’t good.  Can you imagine that?  They considered any individual who performed a miracle on the Sabbath to have committed a great sin.  Consequently, he could not be a prophet but instead, he must be from the devil.  That was their premise: if he took away the man’s blindness on the Sabbath, then he must be an evil person.

The priests had someone locate the man’s parents who assured them this was their own son who had been born blind.  Others assured them that they too, recognized the man who had been blind from birth.

Someone was sent to find the poor fellow so he could be questioned.  The priests learned that he had no idea who had given him his eyesight. This man who had been blind could offer little in the way of helping them to know who was his benefactor but to say, “Once I was blind and now I can see.”  We recognize his words from our hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  However, Jesus, who had been looking for him too, revealed Himself to him.  The man not only thanked Jesus profusely, but he chose to praise Him as a man of God.

One has to admire the man for his retort to the priests who questioned him incessantly.  He said he had told them but they wouldn’t listen and that they must want to praise the Person who performed the miracle, because of their repetitious questioning.  They excommunicated him from their church because he professed that his benefactor was a Prophet from God.  It didn’t worry him to admit his belief to the priests.  He knew it was better to praise the man of God who had given him his eyesight, than to belong to a church that put more emphasis on rules than it did on praising God.  He recognized that they were more interested in having people obey the rules set by the church, which included not helping anyone on the Sabbath, than they were intent upon worshipping God.  Ironically, they had the opportunity before their eyes, to worship God in reality. 

The man’s parents reacted differently, for they were non-committal.  They admitted that this was their son, and that he had been born blind, and now was able to see, but they were not ready to say that the one to be recognized was a Prophet from God.  They knew that if they were to say that this was what they believed, they’d be excommunicated too.  One feels badly for them, because it was plain for them to see that God had performed a miracle and they could praise the very One who did it but they would not.  Their faith could have been made whole if they were to praise God for performing the miracle. They were not unlike many others who are blind in spite of having eyes capable of seeing.

The actual story can be read in the book of John, in chapter nine.  You will enjoy the man’s response to the priests who he is in effect teaching, but who are so wrapped up in their own rules that they too, can neither listen or see.