Episodes
Monday Mar 30, 2020
Monday Mar 30, 2020
The beginning of Leviticus spells out a fourfold process of bringing order to society and keeping at bay the threat that chaos can invade and tear our system to shreds. The fourfold process involves the expiation of sin, a process that adds two middle steps of relationship to God and to oneself that is often missing from our typical American formulation. I am used to the model that skips the whole notion of sin: rather, society works because if you break the rules you get punished, and that fear of being caught --along with a system of punishment-- brings Order. The two middle notions that the Levitical process adds in between action and punishment is "consciousness that one erred unwittingly" and "realizing that one's erring has consequences on the anonymous others within the System." That allows one to "take in new information" and then GROW. Those are the middle steps of relation with God. It's only, as Leviticus chapter 5 explains, when you take in new information but you are so attached to your own ego that you don't witness to it, that you arrive at the step of punishment. (For example, if you receive information that you previously underestimated the virus or need for types of precautions or measures, do you admit the consequences of your unwitting sin prior and then witness to this new information, or choose your ego over God?] It is the Levitical explanation of unwitting sin and then expiation through growth and acknowledgement of consquences on others that our political leaders are avoiding today. Instead, our Nasi's (President, some governors and congresspeople) are attached to their own sense of perfection, they deny God, refuse to grow, and refuse to witness to new information, fostering chaos over order. What plagues do practically and theologically is to explose the weaknesses in the System, and allow chaos in. Our Nasi is inviting it, just as the Pharoah narrative describes and the Levitical sacrificial system explains.
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.