Fun With Theology

 

Deuteronomy has a distinct theology. It articulates that there is one way to live and that if one is good then good things will happen and if one is bad, then bad things will happen. This is articulated in a number of places in this week's portion including Deuteronomy 6:3, which reads, "Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you." Therefore, in our own lives, we must be able to glean that when bad things happen, it must be because we did something wrong and when good things happen, it must be because we are deserving.

 

So, allow me to explore this theology with an example from my own life. A number of years ago, Staci and I had a very large tree branch fall at our house. Now, if Deuteronomy's understanding of God is to be correct, this tree falling must have been either blessing or curse and a statement about whether Staci and I are following the commandments or not. On the one hand, it could be a curse because we had this tree fall and take out our power line, our cable/phone/internet, and exterior lighting. The car got significantly scratched and we had a very large branch blocking part of our driveway for quite some time. Additionally, we were without cable/phone/internet for many days and I was stuck waiting at the house for the cable guy for almost an entire day.

 

On the other hand, the branch falling could have been a blessing. The branch did not hit the house or the car which both would have been damaged significantly. If the branch was going to fall it could have been far worse. The tree falling taught us about the needs of older trees that may save us from a more damaging fall. It did not fall 45 minutes later when I would have been on my way to the car or in the car and could have been hurt myself.

 

So which one is it? Am I a sinner or a saint? I still am not sure. For a fairly straightforward theological idea, we can still see that it is pretty hard to determine its implications. For all of us who assume that bad things are happening to us because we are doing something wrong or good things because we are doing something right, we can see from this case that it is not always so black and white. God works in mysterious ways and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Shabbat Shalom