FRIDAY, August 14
Jonathan Myrick Daniels
Acts 7:19 He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.
I wish this shocked me more. Infanticide, genocide, children used to build economies and satisfy urges. This behavior isn’t limited to the past: We still commit atrocities against children of all ages.
How did humankind arrive at such a point? I suppose it started with people seeing “others.” Prejudice and bigotry spark fear’s flame. Justification fuels the fire. “If this is what you do, I swear I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you,” says Samson in our reading from Judges.
Judges, much like Acts, cycles through recurring themes. Reading these books helps me understand why people fear others as they do. It’s in our genetic memory. We have interpreted blessings and misfortunes as rewards and punishments for generations.
These theories don’t always hold up, though. “Bad” and “good” things happen to all people and most people’s behavior is not exclusively “good” or “bad.” We are more alike than different.
MOVING FORWARD: Spend significant time with the readings from Judges and Acts during this cycle of readings.
Ps 102 * 107:1-32 | Judges 14:20—15:20 | Acts 7:17-29 | John 4:43-54
Read the original post at Forward Day by Day.