On Joseph and his Brothers, but not really.........

God is amazing. Last night some of my fellow students and I were talking about God and how He is so infinite and beautiful. We all came to the conclusion the He is so beyond our comprehension. Every sentence that came out of our mouths ended in a, "....I don't know, man..." or a, "like, wow". It is really funny to think about now, but then we were so in awe, it was very innocence and childish of us, because God is so much greater. Somethings that just stubbed us stupid were things like; God being outside of time and therefore not really making any decisions but just being, and He just is forever. "I am who I am," is the explanation that God gives us about Himself. So if He just is and always will be unchanging, than He is just an unmovable rock that our choices and decisions bounce off of, in a way. Let me explain better.

Okay, so God is like this rock. He doesn't change. If I do the same thing 50 times than the reaction from God will always be the same. Just like if I threw the same pebble the exact same way at the exact same spot on that rock, that pebble will react the exact same way. God is always forgiving and loving, however it is the way that we throw the pebble that effects what happens in this world. Life is an endless choice made up of countless choices that we make in our lives. By choosing the better of a choice we are choosing to create our life to be one step closer to the perfect life that God originally planned in the garden of Eden for us. So every decision also can bring us one step farther away from that. And every decision is unavoidable for us not to make, because by not making the decision we are deciding to not choose. Even not choosing is a choice.

So when Joseph's brothers throw him in a pit they have made a bad choice that leads them away from God. Then they are presented with another choice, should they kill their brother or not? They decide to sell him as a slave, yet another choice that sets them apart from their original purpose of human perfection. They are choosing to be imperfect. But even after they fail to achieve the gift that they have been given, freewill, they get another choice to turn back to the Lord. God being the unmovable rock that He is, always gives us that second chance. Just the fact that we are creatures of time means that we are given multiple choices. The next choice that could have been made by Joseph's brothers is to feel guilty. Then after choosing to feel guilt they can choose to realize their mistake, then choose to accept their mistake and so on. Eventually this process could have ended up in their sincere confession and when we sincerely confess God will always react the same way, forgiveness. And it doesn't stop there. We will have to make a decision after receiving that forgiveness and another after that, we don't stop choosing until we are outside of time like the angels. Which means that we must die and leave the chains holding us to time, our earthly bodies. Thank goodness for our bodies. These are the temple in which we are able to come back to Christ again and again. Anyway.....

Joseph's brothers had second chances, countless second chances (although I guess by saying countless second chances I really mean a second chance and a third chance and a fourth chance and a fifth.....), before the saintly actions of Joseph and the unchanging goodness of God brought them to Egypt looking for food. When they messed up they hit the rock in just the right place so that the pebble would ricochet toward a famine. Maybe I'm all wrong, but I'm thinking that God doesn't have a choice in the matter to bring them a second chance like this. Most people would say that God choses this to happen, but really we choose it because of our actions. Everything is our fault, and at the same time is God's fault, but how can you blame a rock for being a rock. Anyway, God is an awesome rock. He is perfect love and will never change. It is kinda unnerving to think that God doesn't choose to love us, but actually can't help it. He is just this love.... that can't help it. To me it makes Him less and less humanlike. Or maybe i am totally wrong and am going to fail this class for speaking heresy. So to anyone who has gotten this far I say unto thee, "It is my intent to speak the truth, however it is Professor Micheal Barber's duty and vocation to tell me to shut up if I am wrong. Check the comments section to see if he approves."
So the point of this blog was to answer question #3 in the "Practical Exercise" section of Chapter 6 of Scott Hahn's "Understanding the Scriptures". It is as follows:

"Joseph's brother committed a terrible sin when they intended to leave Joseph for dead and sold him into slavery in Egypt. God, however, used the situation to let Joseph assume a place of power in Egypt and eventually save his whole family from starvation. How does this story relate to the story of Noah? How does this story relate to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ?"

Well I am going to go out on a limb here and say Scott Hahn can't say that. He can't say that God used a situation to let Joseph assume a place of power in Egypt. God can't use! He can't anything, but be. And in being He does love and forgive and do everything that we know God to do, but he doesn't make the decision to set a plan into play. Okay, so basically I have said all so I don't have to answer the question listed in the text, but I will anyway. All of these stories relate to each other because they are stories of God's people in trouble and how that trouble is turned around to better us in the end. But I will say it again, that trouble only turns around not because God chooses to turn it around but because God is and "That's all folks." - Porky Pig