What does an old PBS
debate between a Rabbi and an Imam on the nature of man's interaction with God
have to do with a U2 song? Well initially nothing...
Browsing on the GO Train through a well worn Canadian Armed Forces issue New Testament and Psalms I came across Psalm 39, entitled 'Confessions of a Suffering Man'. It is a piece in the great Old Testament fashion about a man that does everything right but still fails. It beautifully reflects the unique Jewish tradition of getting mad at The Creator and demanding justice, an end to or an explanation of man's collective or individual suffering.
The debate with the Imam centered around suffering and why would a just, loving and all powerful God allow it. As the two went back and forth arguments whirling around concepts of man’s free will and God’s bigger plan and how suffering, injustice and war play into that, the Imam stated to the Rabbi to the effect of “as a Jew you don’t get mad at God”. To which the Rabbi immediately retorted “sir, the Jewish people have a great history of getting mad at God”, then discussed psalms like the above Psalm 39.
For U2 fans, you'll know that what follows next is Psalm 40, or perhaps better known by some as just '40' the last song on their third album 'War'. After the lament of the man who did everything right but still couldn't get a break comes 40, a tale of redemption of making your footsteps firm and being lifted from the 'miry clay'.
That sums up life, and the hope people of all faiths try to cling to; that you can do everything right and still fail, but in the end you can be redeemed. There is a reason that after 39 comes 40.
Browsing on the GO Train through a well worn Canadian Armed Forces issue New Testament and Psalms I came across Psalm 39, entitled 'Confessions of a Suffering Man'. It is a piece in the great Old Testament fashion about a man that does everything right but still fails. It beautifully reflects the unique Jewish tradition of getting mad at The Creator and demanding justice, an end to or an explanation of man's collective or individual suffering.
The debate with the Imam centered around suffering and why would a just, loving and all powerful God allow it. As the two went back and forth arguments whirling around concepts of man’s free will and God’s bigger plan and how suffering, injustice and war play into that, the Imam stated to the Rabbi to the effect of “as a Jew you don’t get mad at God”. To which the Rabbi immediately retorted “sir, the Jewish people have a great history of getting mad at God”, then discussed psalms like the above Psalm 39.
For U2 fans, you'll know that what follows next is Psalm 40, or perhaps better known by some as just '40' the last song on their third album 'War'. After the lament of the man who did everything right but still couldn't get a break comes 40, a tale of redemption of making your footsteps firm and being lifted from the 'miry clay'.
That sums up life, and the hope people of all faiths try to cling to; that you can do everything right and still fail, but in the end you can be redeemed. There is a reason that after 39 comes 40.
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