{"id":84075,"date":"2020-11-25T15:13:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84075"},"modified":"2020-11-25T15:13:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:13:21","slug":"only-fools-live-in-a-world-of-certainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/only-fools-live-in-a-world-of-certainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Fools Live In A World Of Certainty"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":"84075","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36535,"related_cahpter":"620","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And when you question God, God questions back\r\n\r\n","content":"

Minor differences in translations can result in massive differences in worldviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalmist writes \u201cThe fool says in his heart, <\/span>ein elohim<\/span><\/em>\u201d (verse 2). Two possible translations are \u201cthere is no God\u201d and with some poetic license, \u201cwhere is God?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the former reading, a fool is someone who looks at the evil in the world, and comes to a conclusion with certainty. With a similar level of conviction, the phrase ends \u201c<\/span>ein oseh tov<\/span><\/em>\u201d <\/span><\/i>which translates to \u201c[there is] no one [who] does good\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalmist continues in verses 3-4 with God looking towards mankind, \u201cEveryone is morally corrupt together.\u201d The word \u201c<\/span>ein<\/span><\/em>\u201d again appears twice, first with a repetition of the \u201c<\/span>ein oseh tov<\/span><\/em>\u201d <\/span><\/i>\u00a0(\u201c[there is] no one [who] does good\u201d) of 53:2, and then finding \u201c<\/span>ein gam ehad<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/span> \u201cnot even one [person]\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is reminiscent of Genesis 18, in which Abraham bargains with God about saving the city of Sodom, where Abraham uses a series of graduated psychological \u2018anchors\u2019 to plead on behalf of the city. \u201cWould you destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people there?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d God responds.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if there were 45 righteous people, would you destroy the city because of 5 evil people?\u201d They ultimately arrive at an agreement that God wouldn\u2019t destroy the city if 10 righteous people would be found.<\/span><\/p>\n

The moral of the story wasn\u2019t that God destroys cities filled with bad people, but rather, like the lesson Mister Rogers learned from his mother, \u201cLook for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.\u201d Actively seek out the people who are doing good, instead of painting humanity negatively with broad strokes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Antanaclasis is a rhetorical device where the same word is repeated twice in a phrase but with two meanings. If we assume that in each of the two verses, the psalmist wanted to use the two different meanings, we can read a completely different story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe who says \u2018where is God?\u2019 Because he sees the world around him, and is surrounded by corruption, malice and evil; people who do no good.\u201d But not to despair. Because God remembers the lesson of Abraham in 53:3, and searches for the good. To which God continues \u201cIt seems like there is no one doing good, but where is there even one person? Let me find them. Let me not assume everyone is beyond repair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalmist, not God, continues, not having learned the lesson. The psalmist conflates the one who doesn\u2019t pray like him with the evil ones. The psalmist prays for evil on his enemies, and for God to reject them.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you live in a world of certainty, and \u201c<\/span>ein<\/span><\/em>\u201d only means \u201cthere isn\u2019t\u201d, the fool says \u201cthere is no God\u201d and God says \u201cthere are no good people\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you live in a world of questioning and \u201c<\/span>ein<\/span><\/em>\u201d means \u201cwhere is?\u201d, even though others may call you a fool, you question, \u201cwhere is God?\u201d And God questions \u201cwhere can I find the good people?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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