Essays Contents
Church
January 7, 2023
a peaceful place
Exodus 20:18-26
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings,
and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking:
and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear:
but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
And Moses said unto the people,
Fear not: for God is come to prove you,
and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
And the people stood afar off,
and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
And the LORD said unto Moses,
Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel,
Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Ye shall not make with me gods of silver,
neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me,
and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings,
thy sheep, and thine oxen:
in all places where I record my name
I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,
thou shalt not build it of hewn stone:
for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar,
that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
water & nourishment for animals
The book of Joshua repeats the phrase "no hewn stone"
Joshua 8:30-32
Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal,
As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel,
as it is written in the book of the law of Moses,
an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron:
and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD,
and sacrificed peace offerings.
And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses,
which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.
food forest, herb gardens, enough for animals and humans
Isaiah 27
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword
shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,
even leviathan that crooked serpent;
and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
I the LORD do keep it;
I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it,
I will keep it night and day.
Fury is not in me:
who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle?
I would go through them, I would burn them together.
Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me;
and he shall make peace with me.
He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root:
Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him?
or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it:
he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged;
and this is all the fruit to take away his sin;
when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones
that are beaten in sunder,
the groves and images shall not stand up.
Yet the defenced city shall be desolate,
and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness:
there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down,
and consume the branches thereof.
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off:
the women come, and set them on fire:
for it is a people of no understanding:
therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them,
and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off
from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt,
and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown,
and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria,
and the outcasts in the land of Egypt,
and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
It has been a lot of years since I did the in-depth research of the scriptures.
Once... there were SO many questions in my mind. The background work
that I did... on the history of the scriptures... keeps me just a bit distant
from trusting every word that I see before me.
The translations that were done... from one ancient language to another ancient language... and are still being translated... perhaps were not
as refined in their vocabularies... put together with the fact that the original
texts had no spaces between words... no divisions...
and I also discovered that ancient scribes... when they made copies of
the scripts... scrolls that were often tattered... would include notations
that the owner had made onto the scrolls... you know, those clarifying
types of notations that are made when studying something.
And so... I keep this in mind as I look at... what is before me.
When I was working with "The Joseph Theory" and "Addendum"...
and finding that... the more I studied on it, the more I discovered
that this theory made such good sense... of everything in these
ancient writings.
It was such a joyful discovery for me.
After Jacob's death... Joseph became Clan Leader...
King of the Hebrews... in charge of the legacy of Adam and Abraham...
a legacy of nobility and honor... and much more.
Abraham's legacy is one of non-violence.
Joseph attempted to save that legacy
by giving the tribe of Jacob a religion... and law.
Joseph wrote Genesis... with the blessing of Jacob.
I am theorizing even now... that Joseph wrote much more.
Now, as I looked for a particular passage that I remembered about...
in my mind it was Joshua... but it seems it was Moses...
about asking God how to build an altar...
and being told that it was "not to be touched by a sword"...
which, to me, reflected that standard of non-violence...
and reminded me of a thing called "no till gardening"...
and there I was flipping through pages and verses about "altars"...
and lo and behold... it began to stand out to me...
that the word "altar" was many times interchangeable
with the word "garden."
enjoy the gardens and the beautiful day
Well, earlier in the day I had already gotten my pictures set up...
of gazebos... pavilions... Japanese gardens... and permaculture designs...
but... I did not expect to see it in the scriptures themselves...
not that blatantly, anyway.
Are we being told to work with things as they naturally ARE...
and... possibly... be mindful of any act that is violent...
including the building of structures...?
to keep as close to the natural world as we can...
using guidelines that fit our natures...
to clothe ourselves appropriately, for instance.
The following is what I originally had in mind for this essay..."Church."
Long ago... when I was 19 years old...
I did a lot of heavy studying on such things as...
what is God like...
does he know everything we think...
is he everywhere at the same time...
when we pray does he hear us all at the same time,
or can he sort out the millions of prayers we send to him every day...
you know, stuff that is hard to know and figure out.
So, what do we know about our God?
In the garden of Eden... his dream place...
we read that, perhaps as his habit,
the Lord "walked in the cool of the garden"
and could not find Adam and Eve.
So, 1... God delights in walking in his beautiful places...
and 2... he did not hover over humans...
watching every moment or thought.
That his "altars" were not to be touched by swords...
meant that... only natural stone was to be used...
in the form that it was found and gathered together.
I wondered... why that exact phrase was used...
and why no one has ever followed that passage
in the building of these "altars."
Well, one reason might be that...
rocks are most often ROUND...
and that would make a rather haphazard pile of rocks...
for the purpose of... slaughtering an animal sacrifice.
Really? We are being taught how to kill animals for a sacrifice?
The animal can be "hewn by a sword" but not a rock?
Well, I just don't believe that God EVER intended for humans to "kill for the
sake of killing" in order to honor HIM. In fact, Noah was told...
that when an animal does this... that animal is to be destroyed.
There was to be no killing for the sake of killing.
This is all explained in the treatise "Addendum" "Blood Sacrifice."
This essay originally... was meant to be... about..
what is the best way to worship God... and to pray to him.
You see, even long, long ago...
I kept picturing people gathering in a park...
like at a picnic... with children being children...
with accoustic music being played quietly in the distance...
and ringing a bell for supper time...
and gathering for the prayer of thanks to God.
And I always pictured something else...
you know...
when you invite God to come and be amongst you...
you should have a place for him to sit...
you know, a chair that no one else is allowed to sit in...
and there should be refreshments, and maybe gifts...
expressions of beautiful things made with him in mind.
The original design of Moses' "tabernacle with man" shows this.
And then, it must be remembered... that... this wondrous God
who surely is the author of peace and love in this world...
might have been walking along the streets...
seeing what trouble might be there...
seeing if things are neglected...
if people are suffering...
and so... it just wouldn't do...
if our churches were elaborate and expensive havens of worship...
if the money that was raised... in God's name...
was not first taking care of the mess going on
out there where people have to live.
At minimum...
members of the church should not be neglected... needing anything.
There's an addage... "let your needs be known"...
and thus, we see the work of "the minister"
to match needs... with abundance.
In fact, I tell people... to join a church... meet good people...
and build your strength up... to deal with your hardships.
Someone should always be there to take your hand.
I guess I just wanted to say in this essay...
if you are praying silently to yourself or praying as a church...
don't insult God in the process...
do all that you possibly can do... before you ask for help.
I mean... who knows... but the way this all works might be... that...
God visits us all... and if you are pleasing company... he returns...
if you aren't pleasing company he might delay his return...
or... it could be that...
when he visits... he sets a thing in motion...
or ensures that you are provided for... that you have back up...
similar to tending to a garden...
some things don't need so much tending... some do...
and sometimes it may take a while
for the help that has been put into motion...
to get to you.
Or perhaps... he didn't know of your need...
until he visited someone whose company he enjoys...
who mentioned in a prayer... that you needed help.
Surely it must be terribly bad... if God has to be summoned.
I just thought that miracles... were like magic...
it's just better when things happen naturally.
But, you know...
I grew up going to church every Sunday...
getting all cleaned up... putting on my best clothes...
and practicing the discipline of listening to a sermon.
It was all good.
As a young woman I joined a youth group
thinking we would all go visit nursing homes...
or make gifts for poor kids for Christmas...
but, no... it was about social activities.
I quit. I wasn't there for the fun of it.
And so... it was a very good research project...
wondering about... what was the best way to pray...
the best way to show respect
to the Father of this world.
a peaceful place
water & nourishment for animals
food forest, herb gardens, enough for animals and humans
enjoy the gardens and the beautiful day
