God was no where in any of that.
Krispy, I think Spitfire was pointing that here is a symptom of a very serious social malady - a spiritual one, that is, and God is using this situation to get our attention.
Is this society debauched? Yea, but this guy was motivated by what he perceived as people persecuting him.
I am not prepared to write off this man as a “but”, an acceptation, an insane demoniac, or in other words, a non-representation of our society. He is a product of our society, and none of us can so easily wash our hands from the problem.
There are all kinds of people around like him – hundreds of thousands. Not all of them end up like this one did, but the potential is there! We are living on one enormous landmine of human dynamite, with latent inner rage as the fuse. We will never “get it” if we just put these kind of people into a separate little categories – like some sort of spiritual mutations.
I know that this way of thinking won't be popular, but, could it be that God is trying to tell us something? Wouldn't it be just like God to speak through a madman?
Absolutely! When society is deadened to the voice of God, he shouts quite loudly: Hey, you, wake up! Can’t you see that something is desperately wrong!! Your ways are not working. Can’t you see? Here is an example! Come to me, come to me, come to me! If you don’t, it’s going to get worse!
Would we listen if it came from someone calm and serene?
We’ve had this already for a long time. We have our bibles – all over the place.
Will we listen if it comes through the mouth of a mass murderer? I doubt it.
I agree with you. Mankind has always been resistant to even the most blatant of warnings.
The book of Haggai reflects this modern-day trend. The post-exilics should have had divine judgment fresh on their minds. Some of them would have lived through the capture of Jerusalem. Yet they were already wandering from him, absorbed in the temporal issues of life.
Five times Haggai warns the people to take note; “Give careful thought to your ways.” I like the way the Message translation puts it: “Take a good hard look at your life. Think it over….” Haggai was telling the people to open their eyes and notice that even though they have been trying very hard, they were getting no where. In spite of the obvious, the people were blind to the fact that divine judgment had fallen on them. They just weren’t getting it - until Haggai put it into words (given by God). The good news is that the people listened to Haggai, quite readily!
Have we really evolved into something better the ancient peoples? I suspect that we’d like to think so.
Diane