{"id":81187,"date":"2020-10-08T14:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81187"},"modified":"2020-10-08T14:56:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T11:56:00","slug":"three-paths-to-the-same-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/three-paths-to-the-same-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Paths To The Same God"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"81187","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38047,"related_cahpter":"586","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Our challenge: to find beauty, wisdom and light in all parts of experience, and know to ask for help when we need it\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Psalm 19 has three distinct parts (not including the title in verse 1), with very little in the way of transition from one to the next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first part describes the magnificent heavens, particularly the brilliance of the sun, as silent testimony of the glory of God who created them. Their primordial grandeur, \u201cspoken\u201d by voices that cannot be heard, is greater than and prior to the descriptive power of human language. Therefore, viewing the heavens is a universal experience of transcendence that is not rooted in any particular time or place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In sharp contrast, the second part focuses on the power of Torah, God\u2019s revelation to the people of Israel, as distilled into specific, culturally-located words. Torah is presented as perfect, rejuvenating, pure, and sweet. The psalmist rejoices in its wisdom and light, but then reverses his gaze.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the third part, observing his human self within the vastness of creation and against the moral standards set by Torah, the psalmist feels small and unworthy despite his best intentions. At that moment, his address to God is neither universal nor cultural. It is a personal plea for help in becoming a better person.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each section of the psalm lyrically expresses an aspect of the human experience of the divine; like many human experiences, its focus pivots without any perceivable transition. In each of those disparate experiences, the psalmist finds God. That is our challenge, too. To find beauty, wisdom and light in all parts of experience, and know to ask for help when we need it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Three Paths To The Same God","main_caption":"Our challenge: to find beauty, wisdom and light in all parts of experience, and know to ask for help when we need it","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81188,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81187\/revisions\/81188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}