These books present two diferent answers to suffering.

-One being that everything falls apart and is pointless unless you have a releationship with God- Ecclesiastes

-in This book we are told that it rains on the good and the bad and the only point to anything is a relationship with God.

-Who are we to judge God or question him?  -job- There seems to be a deeper reasoning to our suffering found in Job but this reasoning cant be understood by us.

Jeremiah was born in 646 bc and and started his ministry in 626.  He was young. Dealing with vocation you should concentrate on Jeremiah chapter 1.  This is the prophets initial calling.  I would then compare this type of calling to that of modern day ministers.  I would also bring in Isaiah chapter 6 and compare this calling with Jeremiah.

I would then talk about how the vocation was all consuming and was not always easy.  For example Jeremiah 20:2 “Burning fire shut up in my bones”.

This is something that last your entire life.  It is a continual calling.  His ministry lasted over 40 yrs and died in 586 bc.

conflict and identify

The Temple

Aaron’s Staff

Well some people have commented on my vocation blog and were wondering what i will do.

I have come to this decision:  I will be living my life withe the passions that God has given me.  I will take every day by itself and like the prophets, i will put my full trust in God and know that by doing so, i will find my place.

God has given me a passion for ministry.  He has also given me a passion for magic/mentalism.  I will follow them both and see where they go.  Maybe i will combined the two in the future, maybe i wont.  I will follow them both and see where the doors open

Blake

After reading the prophets, my thoughts turned to vocation.  Today, when someone desires to be in the ministry , they say that they were called by God.

We are often asked in seminary what this means and how one knows they are really called to the ministry but in actuality can someone feel a false calling?  Also, can one only be called to the ministry or can you be called to something else?  These are the questions that i wrestle with.

How does one know if he or she was meant to do this or that?  Do you follow your passions/dreams or your mind/God?  Or our your passions given to you by God therefore u should follow ur passions?

In the books of the prophets, life seemed much easier.  Even though their ministry could be rough and hard, at least they knew for sure they were doing what they were meant to do.   Most of the times God spoke to them directly,  how much easier it would be if he did so still.

When i was a junior in highschool i dedicated my life to the ministry and told the whole church.  I was excited and “felt” a calling from God.  That feeling, like all feeling slowly died and i became more interested in a hobby of mine (magic).  Now when i step out on a stage and begin to perform, i feel alive …..  Is that God telling me this is what i need to do or is it just myself

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I made a promise to be in ministry,  can i go back or should i go back on it.

This is when a vision from God would be nice.  lol

This aspect of Jeremiah was very interesting to me.  At the beginning of the Book of Jeremiah he sees a staff and a caldron.   I was very confused by this vision or if it is a vision or not.  While reading a few articles on this subject i found a scholar who believes that it was not a vision.  He thinks that during Jeremiah’s calling, he was in the temple.  When God told him to look before him, he saw a staff and a caldron which were objects that he argues could be in the temple.

This idea seem to make sense to me.  Also the idea that all his vision were not fiction but based on reality.  If Jeremiah saw the staff of Aaron then the idea that he was supposed to lead the Israelites would be obvious.

These are just different way to understand visions of prophets

Well,  last night i heard that someone i knew and used to be close with passed away yesterday afternoon.  The man who died was my x-girlfriends father.  I got to know him well when i was dating her.  For at least two years.  Here is an article about his passing  http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/local/local_story_282225721.html

His passing upset me more then i excepted.  He was in his early fifties and had beautiful wife and three kids.  Two daughter, one just got married and the other is in grad school.  He also had a son who was still in high school.   He and his wife were also in the process of adopting two kids from China. (please keep this whole family in your prayers, this has to be really hard) This man was a preacher who effected a lot of lives for the better, even mine.

   When i first heard about this tragedy i thought i might find comfort in Job but all it did was made me get angry at God.  This man was like job, he was righteous and has done more good then most people i know but for some reason God felt it necessary for him to be taken.  

The question to ask is why?  Why him?  Why not me or someone else that waist their life, why was he taken so quick leaving everyone in a shock?

So i then looked at Ecclesiastics and found little help.  It rains or the good and the bad.  Great……still didnt help…..

What makes me so important that im still a live and he isnt?  He was a man of God that fear God as long as i knew him.  I on the other hand am not as strong in God and fall many more times then anyone can expect, yet im alive.

This upset me a lot last night until i was reminded of something outside of scripture.  C.S. Lewis book where he deals with the loss of his wife.  In this book C.S. Lewis screams at God for what he has done saying that he doesn’t understand and how could this happen.  The very same questions i had.  

The only comfort i had was to understand that im not God and dont understand the way his works.  It can be crappy, very much so, but we must move on  and trrryyyyy to trust in God once again.

Tragedy happens, crap happens, death happens, sin exists, suffering sucks and as much as we dont like the answer, life is a mystery that we still dont fully understand and suffering is apart of that mystery

Well, i read Ecclesiasties and was i dsapointed…..

I dont understand why the author says what he says.  To the original audience, what did they understand?  They had no view of the afterlife, concluding that life was here an now only.  For this reasons, i dont understand Ecclesiastics and, in away, view it useless unless read in a conical context.

The author argues that everything is meaningless because in the end it all goes away .  Theres no reason for wealth or fame or talent because they will fade away.   The only true ting (meaningful thing) is a relationship with God.  Yet to me, a relationship with God (if life only exists till death) is also manginess and should be put into the same category as wealth or fame.

Reading Ecclesiastes by itself is like watching a 3d movies without the proper 3d glasses

If we read Ecclesiastes through the lens of scripture then the truth is finally reviled.