The Old Testament Made New

Sodom and Gomorrah

God revealed to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed due to them committing terrible sins over and over again. When God broke the news to Abraham Abraham rushed to Sodom’s defense since his nephew Lot lived there. He told God if there were “fifty good people there” would he destroy the entire town. God says that if there were “fifty good people there” then he would not destroy the town. Abraham then kept on bartering because he knew he would not find fifty. “What if there were 45”… 40… 30… 20.. 10.. and each time God stated that he would not destroy the town then.

A group of Angels sent by God went to evacuate Lot and his family from Sodom and were attacked by the Sodom mob. They got the message (by the presence of the Angels) that they need to change their wicked ways but that did not work as they did not listen to God’s messengers. They did not even listen to Lot when he tried getting them to change their ways when he lived in Sodom. When Lot was evacuated God turned Sodom and Gomorrah into sulfur and fire.

The entire town of Sodom did not have ten righteous men. Sodom is an example of the Hive Mind effect and of Mob Mentality. How numbers outnumber logic. Instead of listening to Lot who was a follower of God’s they decided to listen to themselves because they outnumbered Lot. Sodom’s wicked townspeople thought that their opinion mattered more then Lot’s because they had strength in numbers. Which was false. God’s word has the most value and since Lot was a follower of God and God is all knowing his word would hold the most value in the town of Sodom.

Sodom also showed us Mob Mentality. When the Angels sent by God came to rescue Lot they were assaulted by Sodom’s wicked townspeople. The townspeople refused to allow outsiders opinions inside their town. They knew Sodom was going to be destroyed by God yet did not care because God’s Angels were not one of them. God’s Angels were the most important voices but they were shut out since they did not live in Sodom.

We see the same thing today in towns like Sodom online which are Online Communities on the Internet. Having more likes on Instagram means that your opinion holds more weight online then someone who knows what they are talking about but do not have that many retweets or likes. Outsiders are also not welcomed into these communities. They are also blocked on Twitter etc. because they do not follow these people. They are “outsiders”. “You don’t follow us so your opinion is not valid”. Well, even If I did follow you guy’s you would block me because I do not agree with 100% of your opinions. These online communities can cause havoc because of the hive mind/mob mentality. They don’t let the light of God into the internet so they are burned down. The entire communities at are shut down online because of their hate speech.

The “townspeople” of those communities lose their “home”. Their fortress is gone. Their livelihood is gone. They are then seen as outcast’s by everyone. So we can not follow the Hive Mind Effect/Mob Mentality Effect. We must listen to everyone’s opinions online instead of just blocking them because they disagree with us on one issue. We also need to allow other people to give their opinions too. Don’t let only “your stans” opinions matter.

Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel is the story of two siblings. Cain was a farmer while his brother was a shepherd. Both brought their offerings to God. Cain brought some fruit while Abel brought the fat from his firstborn sheep to sacrifice. Cain’s offering to God was rejected while Abel’s was accepted by God because Abel gave the best of what he had while Cain did not.

Cain then killed Abel in a fit of jealous rage. Cain was then banished by God having to live as an outlaw away from his family forever. Cain’s one-sided rivalry with Abel ended up costing Abel his life and Cain’s life as he left his family for good. Just because Cain was jealous that his offering was not accepted.

We must avoid this type of sibling rivalry in our ever-growing divided climate today. Trade workers can not fight trade workers. Groups of one minority can not fight other groups of minorities. Followers of Jesus can not say “This is the Body of Christ” then ask for a “vegan” communion wafer.

Because that leads them to never accomplish anything. It leads them to grow apart from each other. Causing them to gain nothing. Like with how Cain had to grow apart from his family by leaving them after killing his brother.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were the first two humans that God created to roam the Earth. God created Eve as a companion for Adam after he was lonely since there were no other humans on the world at that time to be his companion.

Adam and Eve both had childlike knowledge. They were going to live forever in a childlike state of existence as long as they did not eat from one of God’s tree’s in the vast Garden of Eden. Satan in the flesh of a snake then tempted Adam and Eve to eat from the tree. Adam and Eve then ate from that tree. Adam and Eve then lost their childlike knowledge becoming aware of good and evil. They were banished from the Garden of Eden by God having to endure a life of punishment to survive.

The Garden of Eden reminds us of the modern Internet. The modern Internet is overall a childlike place. But the temptation is there in the dark corner of the Internet. That dark corner is online conspiracy theories which drag us to sin. We see that tree. We know we should avoid that tree. But we still bite into those conspiracy theories . Because in a 24/7 attention economy we are always dehydrated quenching our thirst for anything.

Well it’s not a joke. Since society mostly takes everything as a joke nowadays online jokes become the truth. Everything on the Internet then becomes a huge conspiracy theory to us. And when everything starts becoming questioned the Internet turns into a game of Jeopardy but with a missing answer booklet. It’s a game where you can only answer a question with another question. Like how Adam and Eve taking one apple from the tree took away all the trust that God had in them. We take away our trust in truth by reading into Conspiracy theories. We start following the “my truth” phenomenon which is wrong because truth is subjective. It does not have an owner nor is it rented out.

Creation

Creation

Genesis I teaches us about how God created the Universe. But it also teaches us a very relevant lesson about scheduling. God chose his schedule- What was he going to do on each day while creating the Universe for a reason. God is All-Knowing. He did not freestyle creation. It was deliberate. Our schedules nowadays in modern society are as flexible as they have ever been in history. And to a certain extent that is a good thing. But it also has it’s drawbacks.

Streaming Services mean we don’t have to be in front of our television at a certain time to watch our favorite show live. Back in the olden days if you wanted to watch an old episode of a television show that you missed you would end up thinking it was a “Lost Episode” since it reaired years after your favorite show ended. Online Shopping means that we don’t always have to drive to the store to go acquire an item that’s already extinct. That’s a good thing in modern scheduling. But there’s a downside to modern scheduling. Having too many options will give us none at all since society is made up of adaptive creatures.

We can see this in the Catholic faith. Many parishes offer multiple Mass times so people can make it to Church if they are busy yet a lot of people still don’t go to Sunday Mass. They say “Well If I can’t make the 4:30 pm Vigil Mass then I’ll make the 7 am Sunday Mass if not then I’ll make the 11 am Sunday Mass if not that Well then I’ll go to the 5 pm Sunday Mass… That what happens is that people try to binge their faith. And you can’t binge faith.

Because Church is not like Netflix. You can’t Binge your Faith on Christmas… You Can’t Also See Good Friday that day where Jesus gave us all a chance at Eternal Forgiveness.

God did not create Adam on Day 1 before creating Light, Darkness, Animals, etc. because Adam would have been existing in a state of emptiness. He would be very depressed since there would be no animals he can be earthly friends with. There would be no light or darkness so Adam would have no state of time. He wouldn’t know when to wake-up or go to sleep. He would just be floating around.

God also could have taken it slow. But then everything would have been hectic. God could have made an entirely flexible schedule. Instead of a Day of Rest, he could have taken off a few hours each day for rest. Mass would be 1 hour long per week. But then it would be spread out in 10-minute increments every day. That is why God created different things on different days then took the seventh Day off for rest. I know that nowadays people work more and more. We are a technologically advanced society like The Jetsons yet we work like The Flintstones.

And sometimes people have to work on Sunday as they are a police officer or a nurse etc. Because crime or injuries never take a day off.
So Employers need to at least give their Catholic employees all of Sunday off. The same thought applies to other religions such as the Christianity worship service or Judaism Shabbat on Saturday.

Or if that does not work then give them four hours off on Sunday. One hour to get to Mass then one hour for Mass then two hours to get back from Mass to get to their workplace. The same thought applies to Christianity or Judaism.

Our Schedules are important. But we always need to make sure that our schedules are synced up to God’s.