I teach a couple of online classes for a Bible college. Part of the structure of these classes involves required forum participation--which takes the place of normal classroom ‘face time.’ Students have to respond to an original prompt and then interact with one other after original responses have been written.
Today, as I was scanning student entries, I stumbled across this quote:
“We do at times pimp our Lord and He is not pleased with our actions.”
My first reaction was out-loud, prolonged laughter--’Seriously?!’
I have never heard someone say that in all of my years. I’ve never even heard anything come close to that. Hil.Ar.I.Ous.
But I have to admit--part of my response was pure joy. It was honestly refreshing to be confronted with an entirely unorthodox and keenly vivid metaphor describing the way we try to elicit what we want--try to ‘skim a little off the top’--try to control or manage an utterly abysmal cycle of selfishness and greed.
‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘That is exactly what we do. We try to be nice to Him, feed Him a diet designed to keep His figure, let Him sleep in a nice, posh house with lots of entertainment, let Him ride around with us in a pimped-out car and then sell Him whenever we need a little extra cash. Of course, He’s never allowed to leave or make friends with other people or try a new line of work, because then where would we be?’
It’s sad. It’s disgusting.
It’s true. That’s what we do. And it feels good to stare it in the face and call it what it is.
The comment arose in the context of talking about symbolism in Jeremiah. One of the examples that came up was the symbolism of unfaithfulness in a marriage relationship. (Jeremiah 2 is one of the pertinent passages.) Yahweh compares His people to prostitutes, donkeys in heat, wasted slaves and corrupt vines. In fact, the more we read Jeremiah and really allow ourselves to see the pictures God has painted about His relationship with people, the more we see that placing anyone, anything, any idea, any promise, or any love above Him is essentially a defiant shout of rebellion, a bitter shaking of the fist, a manipulative attempt to control the (all-powerful) Situation, and a cleverly disguised coup on the authority and grace of Goodness.
This is our ‘pimping of God.’
And this is how we break the cycle:
“Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 3:12-13)
Return.
Today, as I was scanning student entries, I stumbled across this quote:
“We do at times pimp our Lord and He is not pleased with our actions.”
My first reaction was out-loud, prolonged laughter--’Seriously?!’
I have never heard someone say that in all of my years. I’ve never even heard anything come close to that. Hil.Ar.I.Ous.
But I have to admit--part of my response was pure joy. It was honestly refreshing to be confronted with an entirely unorthodox and keenly vivid metaphor describing the way we try to elicit what we want--try to ‘skim a little off the top’--try to control or manage an utterly abysmal cycle of selfishness and greed.
‘Yes,’ I thought, ‘That is exactly what we do. We try to be nice to Him, feed Him a diet designed to keep His figure, let Him sleep in a nice, posh house with lots of entertainment, let Him ride around with us in a pimped-out car and then sell Him whenever we need a little extra cash. Of course, He’s never allowed to leave or make friends with other people or try a new line of work, because then where would we be?’
It’s sad. It’s disgusting.
It’s true. That’s what we do. And it feels good to stare it in the face and call it what it is.
The comment arose in the context of talking about symbolism in Jeremiah. One of the examples that came up was the symbolism of unfaithfulness in a marriage relationship. (Jeremiah 2 is one of the pertinent passages.) Yahweh compares His people to prostitutes, donkeys in heat, wasted slaves and corrupt vines. In fact, the more we read Jeremiah and really allow ourselves to see the pictures God has painted about His relationship with people, the more we see that placing anyone, anything, any idea, any promise, or any love above Him is essentially a defiant shout of rebellion, a bitter shaking of the fist, a manipulative attempt to control the (all-powerful) Situation, and a cleverly disguised coup on the authority and grace of Goodness.
This is our ‘pimping of God.’
And this is how we break the cycle:
“Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 3:12-13)
Return.
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