08 December 2003 00:21
{sigh} Paul never set a bad exampleyeah, kuz i never got around to finishing.
okay, so i ended up pretty down on myself there for a while, but the library closed, so i had to leave. the mist was still going in the parking lot, the chill air and all that. twas refreshing. then i listened to Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 by Edgar on the way home, and that cheered me up considerable, plus made me feel much less guilty about buying those cd's :). then went to publish the blog (no isp at the library) and noticed i never got around to fulfilling my title. doh.
back to zippy.. here's the other quote she's had next to mine, which i still think is funny despite having read it many many times: "if you hold a unix shell up to your ear, can you hear the C?" unfortunately, not many of my readers back home will get that one. so here for good spice is the quote she is currently away to, "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." --Anatole France. she has a nack for posting quotes that i appreciate, i hope she pardons me for borrowing these items, public domain or no :).
2cor8.1-15
v2
"overflowing joy" vs "extreme poverty" equals "rich generosity." aha! not lots of money, but rich generosity ..a term entirely relative to the amount one has in the first place. ref mark and the widow.
v3
"gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability." a very telling piece of work is that sentence. here paul starts setting up his case. it's a classic "look how perfect susie is compared to johnny" case (note, absolutely no relation to myself ;) ).
v5
here i digress from my case, just because this is a cool verse on its own. "gave themselves first to God, then to us." hello, what's up with this? aren't they giving to God anyway, by giving to the church of Jerusalem? but to quote the sentence, "they gave themseves...to us." ignore the out of context, i did it to show the syntax, which is confusing me. if he said "gave of themselves" it would make sense. i think i understand the implied concept behind the verse, or at least one possible implication. if we give to others before giving to the Lord, it is more a matter of good works. i need to give x amount to the church. instead, we should surrender our being to God, then giving to others would be a natural outflowing of our relationship to God.
v7
here he butters them up, a little flattery to puff up the ego, then bam, a challange. "just as you excell in everything...see that you excell in this grace of giving." it's just the start...
v8
"i am not commanding you, but i want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others." oh puhlease. whatever. double whammy one two. who is he kidding?!? this is the apostle paul, this dude's a major authority figure here.. here's what he says in modern english, "now i ain't givin' y'all a direct order, but i think it's in your...uh, best intrests if you do what i tell ya." on top of that, he outright tells them he's going to be comparing htem to the other churches. their sincerity no less! i've come across this theme a few times before regarding tithing.. "give willingly—or else." this is tatamount to Madame Headmistress calling johnny up in front of the class to do math problem on the board next to susie's, so "we can see whether you can do better than her or not."
v9
two words: "guilt trip."
(sarcasm aside, a rather well-deserved guilt trip, myself included)
v10
"my 'advice'" riiiight. as if they have a choice.
v12
these poor corinthians. it boils down to, "you will give, and you will give willingly, whether you want to or not."
summary one:
{sigh}, it's so lovely to be a Christain. let us read vv13-15 (okay, i'm out of sarcasm mode now)
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."
whoa!! what have we here?? could it be the answers to some of my questions? (sorry, looks like having trouble exiting sarcasm mode ;) ctrl-alt-del alt-e enter). equality. what a word! equality within the church.. ironically enough, a balance. why on earth do i find so much irony in my dealings with God? don't answer that.
so in my struggle of safety cushion versus giving it away, strive for balance. i like concrete commands. although oddly enough, i'm still the one trying to determine the balance (hopefully with the Holy Spirit's help).
summary two:
paul was on their side, he was just trying to help them out. he was a leader to them, he was showing them the way to success, in this case, success as an active member of the body of God. and he was not providing a bad example to future leaders (despite whatever my title might have implied). instead his example is good, showing him giving the corinthians a few well aimed nudges in the right direction. he used not-so-subtle hints, but he left the choice up to them, they could have chosen to not follow his advice. but in this manner he worked with them, as a leading brother in Christ, not over them, as a domineering demi-god.
summary three:
a note from my study bible on v12 (which was, interestingly enough, underlined. wonder who did that?): "paul says that we should give of what we have, not what we don't have. sacrificial giving must be responsible. paul wants believers to give generiously, but not to the extent that those who depend on the givers (their families, for example) must go without having their basic needs met. give until it hurts, but don't give so [much] that it hurts your family and/or relatives who need your financial support."
ich.. you can feel the dumbed down liberalism slime oozing off that paragraph, but it has a few points eh?
summary of the summaries:
God is good indeed. after all, he puts up with me, even though i deserve a lightning bolt or two. so i hash through all that stuff in the previous post, and get around to writing this one, lo and behold the answer was under my nose, if i had just paid attention in ss this morning instead of jotting down notes to blog about :). "Our desire is...that there might be equality." there is an answer from scripture that i can apply to my life. (which is why i started writing this in the first place, to help myself define my feelings. which is why i need the disclaimer, because it's aimed more at me than an audience, but i like to share my thoughts, hence...). so buying a mouse when christians are starving and persecuted in divers places of the world? whether i buy the mouse or not... there is not equality
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