Dismal English Sports

The English are not really doing well at sports.  Unless you have an overbearing parent or positively motivated parent there is little else to move English youth in the right direction.  I think that this is borne out by ridiculous levels in alcoholism and teen pregnancy in Britain.  In Japan and the USA I see much more development of youth in sport.  Soccer in America should be nowhere near the level of the UK, considering the status it has here, but the USA is competing with England on an equal footing.  Relative population, I think is not a factor.  I think a major difference is the 'can do' positive attitude of Americans compared to the 'gissa fag, I'm bored!' attitude of British youth.  In fact if anyone shows any flair in the UK they are cut down as a 'flash git.'  We tell them they need to sit around and be glum supporters of third-rate football like the rest of us.  Maybe it's the climate, maybe it's the economy.  I think it is a collective psychology of negativity.  How many English boys are prepared to develop their technical skills for two hours a day after school?  That is what I saw in Japan and the USA.  Every day after school, enthusiastic, happy kids train in their sport of preference for two hours.  In the UK we had one practice a week and just took lumps out of each other after the designated member of staff through the ball in and watched.  Has much changed in the English schoolboy approach? 

Another factor, apparently, is that there is a lot of money in English football clubs.  They spend it on talent that comes in from overseas.  One or two English players join an academy and get good training up until the age of 17 or 18.  However, there is a gap after the academy where the players that are developed lack experience because they can't get a look in at the top sides.  Maybe a trouncing by a fit, talented, youthful German team will cause the English to change their approach.  What I think they will do is sit down and moan and whine about World Cup 2010, until they get to moan about Euro 2012.  Why not stop moaning and fix it?

Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People?

Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen to "Good" People?

My wife and I have endured some pain.  One of the things that we face is infertility.  Month after month we have dreaded the arrival of the proof that we are not pregnant again.  My father died at 56.  56 may not seem a young age to die to someone who may have lost a child, but my father’s death was unexpected.  My Uncle has just heard that he has months to live.  He is in his seventies, but he is the fittest person I know.  He was running, abseiling (rappelling), and canoeing just months ago. Why would God allow these things to happen?

When pain and suffering happen on the other side of the globe, we can send $5 and stop worrying about it.  When we endure our own pain and suffering we reel, we squirm, we shout at people, ourselves - at God.  The main assumption that we make is that we are good people and we do not deserve this.  If we have kept the rules and paid our dues, why are our lives not longer, happier, and more fulfilled than some dope-smoking, crack-addicted prostitute?

A number of responses come to mind. 

                Firstly, the question “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” makes  most sense if God exists.  Why are people asking about good and bad if a standard for good does not exist?  If there is no God to define a moral code, there is no good and evil as we express them.  The only way that evil can be defined with satisfaction is if it is a departure from good.  God defines good.

Secondly, we may obtain life’s greatest reward through horrific or trying circumstances.  Take Job for example.  He tried to make sense of his unspeakable suffering, but in the end he met with God which was precious to him.  Health and wealth preachers frequently quote Psalm 37:4, “Delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  We tend to launch into the second half of that verse.  We tally all of our desires and then we come to God for credit.  However, the condition rests on delighting in the LORD.  If the LORD is the apple of your eye, the core of your existence, your foundation for life, then you will receive more of the LORD.  Sometimes God removes distractions that we love.  A Severe Mercy is a good book to read about this.  Vanauken ultimately sees that having his wife taken from him early in their marriage was a ‘severe mercy’.

That brings us to a third issue.  A rich young ruler ran up to Jesus in the Bible and called him Good Teacher (Luke 18:18-30).  Jesus then asked why the man called him good when only God is good.  At another point Jesus is talking to a regular group of Jewish people and calls them evil (Matthew 7:11).  If Jesus is right, and I believe he is, a better question than the one we started with would be “Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people?”  Our sin should be the cause of worse things than we endure.  This question doesn’t bother us quite so much because we love receiving the good that God lavishes on us every day.  However, let’s remember that if everyone got what they deserved it would be excruciating crucifixion for everyone.

Lastly, we devalue suffering.  In our comfort driven society we are unconcerned that we might be moving toward the failed Utopia of Wall-E.  In Wall-E humans become sedentary, fast-food eating, entertainment saturated consumers drifting aimlessly in outer space.  However, Father Sears of Loyola has spent time reading through the Bible investigating the connection between spiritual growth and suffering.   He comes up with some good ideas.  More immature Christians fear suffering because they associate it with punishment.  They ignore that perfect love casts out that kind of fear.  Jesus has taken the punishment.  Beyond punishment is discipline.  Although it doesn’t seem much more pleasant than punishment it has purpose.  The Bible tells us that trials develop character. 

Jesus Christ’s crucifixion is the ultimate example of a purpose in suffering.  He entered suffering for the sake of others.  Entering into hardship for others’ sakes led my family to foster a child.  This is why my wife and I took in her parents who were aging and both had cerebral palsy.   We knew that entering into the bad things voluntarily would redeem those lost in them.

I still balk at suffering.  I want to relax.  I want to eat nachos, entertain myself, and attend a comfortable church.  The Kingdom of God that Jesus calls me to has wounded healers, pierced hearts, and broken bodies.  If we wait patiently for God he will grant us insight (Psalm 40; James 1).  Even if in the end it is the ability just to accept that he is God and only he is good.

Exodus

The story of the Creation was a story of order created from chaos.  As we have read Genesis we have seen chaos ordered again and again.  God's people knowingly or unwittingly carry out his plans.  Some think that God's actions have ended or never were.  I look at the world and I think, "What in the world is God doing?"  I don't think that the answer is nothing.  What role are you playing to influence God's Creation for good?

Genesis 47:27 - 50:26

²⁷ Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

 ²⁸ Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. ²⁹ When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried."
      "I will do as you say," he said.

 ³¹ "Swear to me," he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

¹ Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. ² When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

 ³ Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty ^[a] appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me ⁴ and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'

 ⁵ "Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶ Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. ⁷ As I was returning from Paddan, ^[b] to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

 ⁸ When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"

 ⁹ "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father.
      Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

 ¹⁰ Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

 ¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too."

 ¹² Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. ¹³ And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

 ¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said,
       "May the God before whom my fathers
       Abraham and Isaac walked,
       the God who has been my shepherd
       all my life to this day,

 ¹⁶ the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
       —may he bless these boys.
       May they be called by my name
       and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
       and may they increase greatly
       upon the earth."

 ¹⁷ When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

 ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations." ²⁰ He blessed them that day and said,
       "In your ^[c] name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
       'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' "
      So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

 ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you ^[d] and take you ^[e] back to the land of your ^[f] fathers. ²² And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land ^[g] I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow."

 ¹ Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

 ² "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
       listen to your father Israel.

 ³ "Reuben, you are my firstborn,
       my might, the first sign of my strength,
       excelling in honor, excelling in power.

 ⁴ Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
       for you went up onto your father's bed,
       onto my couch and defiled it.

 ⁵ "Simeon and Levi are brothers—
       their swords ^[h] are weapons of violence.

 ⁶ Let me not enter their council,
       let me not join their assembly,
       for they have killed men in their anger
       and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.

 ⁷ Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
       and their fury, so cruel!
       I will scatter them in Jacob
       and disperse them in Israel.

 ⁸ "Judah, ^[i] your brothers will praise you;
       your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
       your father's sons will bow down to you.

 ⁹ You are a lion's cub, O Judah;
       you return from the prey, my son.
       Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
       like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?

 ¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah,
       nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
       until he comes to whom it belongs ^[j]
       and the obedience of the nations is his.

 ¹¹ He will tether his donkey to a vine,
       his colt to the choicest branch;
       he will wash his garments in wine,
       his robes in the blood of grapes.

 ¹² His eyes will be darker than wine,
       his teeth whiter than milk. ^[k]

 ¹³ "Zebulun will live by the seashore
       and become a haven for ships;
       his border will extend toward Sidon.

 ¹⁴ "Issachar is a rawboned ^[l] donkey
       lying down between two saddlebags. ^[m]

 ¹⁵ When he sees how good is his resting place
       and how pleasant is his land,
       he will bend his shoulder to the burden
       and submit to forced labor.

 ¹⁶ "Dan ^[n] will provide justice for his people
       as one of the tribes of Israel.

 ¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent by the roadside,
       a viper along the path,
       that bites the horse's heels
       so that its rider tumbles backward.

 ¹⁸ "I look for your deliverance, O LORD.

 ¹⁹ "Gad ^[o] will be attacked by a band of raiders,
       but he will attack them at their heels.

 ²⁰ "Asher's food will be rich;
       he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

 ²¹ "Naphtali is a doe set free
       that bears beautiful fawns. ^[p]

 ²² "Joseph is a fruitful vine,
       a fruitful vine near a spring,
       whose branches climb over a wall. ^[q]

 ²³ With bitterness archers attacked him;
       they shot at him with hostility.

 ²⁴ But his bow remained steady,
       his strong arms stayed ^[r] limber,
       because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
       because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

 ²⁵ because of your father's God, who helps you,
       because of the Almighty, ^[s] who blesses you
       with blessings of the heavens above,
       blessings of the deep that lies below,
       blessings of the breast and womb.

 ²⁶ Your father's blessings are greater
       than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
       than ^[t] the bounty of the age-old hills.
       Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
       on the brow of the prince among ^[u] his brothers.

 ²⁷ "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
       in the morning he devours the prey,
       in the evening he divides the plunder."

 ²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

 ²⁹ Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. ³¹ There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. ^[v] "

 ³³ When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

 ¹ Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. ² Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, ³ taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

 ⁴ When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, "If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ⁵ 'My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.' "

 ⁶ Pharaoh said, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."

 ⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt- ⁸ besides all the members of Joseph's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. ⁹ Chariots and horsemen ^[w] also went up with him. It was a very large company.

 ¹⁰ When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. ¹¹ When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning." That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. ^[x]

 ¹² So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them: ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field. ¹⁴ After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

 ¹⁵ When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: ¹⁷ 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

 ¹⁸ His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.

 ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. ²¹ So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

 ²² Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years ²³ and saw the third generation of Ephraim's children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph's knees. ^[y]

 ²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." ²⁵ And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

 ²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Questions

1. Where did the Israelites settle?
2. Who does Joseph bring for blessing?
3. How is 50:20 key?
4. How would the people of Israel be encouraged when they are entering Canaan?
5. How are you working to bring order to God's Creation?

Going Deeper

Read through Genesis in one sitting.  It will take a couple of hours.

Genesis 37 - 47

Hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving.  I almost got to the end of Genesis.  Tomorrow will be my last reading in Genesis. 

Things that are terrible can work for good.  The life of Joseph illustrates this.  What his brothers meant for evil God used for good.  The problem that presents itself is whether God wills the evil that comes into the life of those who suffer.  If he doesn't will the evil, is he powerless to stop it?  If he has the power to stop it, why doesn't he make the path forward more pleasant?  This is sometimes called 'the problem of evil', C.S. Lewis addressed the issue in The Problem of Pain.  My friend Mark addressed the issue for his Ph.D in philosophy.  He addressed the issue through Kiekegaard and the hiddenness of God.  People think this problem is a big worry for Christians.  Do you accept how God works through pain or evil?

Genesis 37-47

(Because of the length of the passage, I am not going to put it here.)

Questions

1. Whose children is this section covering?
2. What different positions does Joseph fill?
3. How does Judah rise in importance over Simeon?
4. How does God work to preserve his plan?
5. What terrible things have drawn you closer to God.

Going Deeper

Observation

• What is Joseph given by his father?
• How is Judah held accountable by his daughter-in-law?
• What does Potiphar's wife hold?
• Who steps up and volunteers to be held in place of Benjamin?
• Where do the Israelites settle?

Interpretation

• What did an ornamented or long-sleeved robe probably represent?
• Why is there parallelism between the robes that Joseph's father gives him and that Potiphar's wife is left holding?
• Why might Judah see a shrine prostitute?
• How do the roles of the brothers reflect their roles as future tribes?
• What kind of land is Goshen?

Application

• Have you seen someone who has gotten themselves in a hole?  How have you helped?
• Is there a time when you have to step away and let 'bad' things happen?
• What are your responsibilities to your brother's family or their spouse?
• What position of authority do you hold?  How does God use it for good?
• How have you fled sexual temptation?