Detox #1
January 8, 2023Pastor Patrick presented today's first message of a 3-part series called "Detox." A video of the message is here.
[Conversation Starters will begin again with the start of the next official life groups session.]
In Genesis, the three aspects of the human were created: body, soul, and spirit. The body can be thought of as the machine, the atoms, chemicals, cells, and all that makes the machine work. A few verses later, God injects soul which can be thought of as the essence of life. It's what makes us alive. It's what there is no more of when we die, unlike all the atoms, chemicals, etc. that are still there. And the spirit is that eternal part that lives on after the body's death. Animals, including humans, have bodies and life's essence (nephesh/soul). Only humans have the spirit.
While talking about detoxing, Patrick mentioned separating from the unclean. Separations are key themes in the Torah: holy-profane, life-death, male-female, etc. Holy is all about being set apart, made separate. The notion of unclean/clean and impure/pure are used all the time in the Torah. But these terms don't help us much. The Hebrew words that are usually translated as unclean/impure or clean/pure are tamay and tahor. And what is really being distinguished is life-oriented (tahor/clean/pure) versus death-oriented (tamay/unclean/impure). This understanding of the life-death separation is also key to understanding the kosher laws. God would definitely approve of detoxing from the tamay things in your life. It's no coincidence that Patrick associated doubt, negativity, and sin with death.
Referencing Paul's statement to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7) reminded me of the Torah not trusting the eye. Time and again there are cautions to trust the ear much more than the eye "lest you prostitute yourself." That's partly why it's "Hear O Israel," not "Look O Israel."
All the antedotes Patrick offered to doubt, negativity, and sin all come down to trusting God: trust what He says, think what He thinks, say what He says, and turn to what He wants. Trusting God is far more than believing in God. Early on in Moses' dealings with the Pharoah of Egypt, he did not say entirely what God told him to say (Ex. 4:22-23). Maybe Moses thought it was too strong and Pharoah would kill him. Who knows. In any case, Moses clearly knew who God was at this point but did not yet trust, have faith in, Him entirely. When someone says they believe in God, do they mean in His existence or that they trust Him? The latter is far more important. "In God we trust" is on every United States coin.
Patrick noted that the word sin can mean "miss the mark." This reminded me of the etymological root of the word Torah which means "to cause something to move straight or true."
Bonus
Even Moses got mad at God, not to mention all the Israelites occasionally. The Torah/God makes it clear that even God isn't enough, right from the very beginning. Right after God creates Adam, He recognizes that Man should not be alone. He recognizes that He himself, God, is not enough. So He creates a companion, Eve. We need God and fellow human beings, a spouse ideally, but at least other humans.
This is a balance beam that can be hard to walk. Plenty of folks take the "God only" path ignoring fellow humans, and many folks take the "humans only" path ignoring God. Moderation is the key, and is the hardest for us humans to follow.