Do you know the story of Samson in the Bible?
Samson was a Nazarite, which means God blessed him and watched over him and gave him strength.
Samson married the wrong chick. His parents were like, Don’t marry that chick. She is not one of us! So he married her.
Then she totally lied to him and her dad was like, I’m gonna give you to another man.
When Samson came looking for his woman she was with some other dude. So he burned their cornfields down.
Then he found himself a hooker.
Then he fell in love with another wrong woman. Delilah. She lied to him too. She tricked him and he let her. He knew she was naughty (in a bad way) and he stayed with her and told her the secret to his strength. The nasty wench betrayed him.
The secret to his strength was his hair. When his hair was cut off he was “as weak as any other man”.
Then he got his eyes stabbed out of his head by the bad guys.
He asked God to give him strength one last time. He used that strength to knock down an entire temple with his bare hands, killing 3,000 bad guys and himself.
The end.
Even if you don’t believe there is truth in the Bible, you must admit it’s a good story with a good moral.
The moral is: Don’t marry two lying females and hook up with a prostitute or else you will have your eyes poked out by several uncircumcised Philistines.
What do you think of Samson?
In Sunday school today some people judged Samson as being weak. Weak Minded. Spiritually Weak.
I disagree. In my mind Samson was HUMAN. By the end of his life he understood his mistakes. He humbled himself before God and offered himself as a sacrifice.
Samson made mistakes in life. He was hurt by those mistakes. He progressed.
On June 1, 2010 an Anonymous Comment was left on a previous post. THE MORMONS.
Anonymous said...
good post.
i never read your blog before.
i'm a once good mormon gone bad, dating a hooker. tolerance and patience is hard. and being judged.
I figure this is the most random place to say all of that, but since its is anonymous i can finally get that off my chest.
This comment has been on my mind A LOT. It reminds me of myself.
While I have never dated a hooker I HAVE made mistakes. Lots.
We ALL have, haven’t we?
I can’t judge Mr. Anonymous OR the hooker he dates. God loves them as much as He loves me. They have as much potential for good as I. Given that knowledge, how CAN I judge them?
My mistakes started when I was a 5 year old cleptomaniac. They never really stopped. I make mistakes daily.
And maybe you think you’re better than I am because in your mind the mistakes you make are less serious. Less obvious. Throughout my life TONS of people have tried, to no avail, to put me in my place. People try to settle me down with harsh words and hurtful gossip.
The problem is this: I LOVE WHO I AM! I’m not perfect, but I LOVE who I am.
Like my anonymous commenter, I have a hard time when I am judged.
Isn’t that God’s job?
Christians are taught to LOVE ONE ANOTHER and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.
Even if you don’t subscribe to religion, if you close your eyes and internalize this concept you can FEEL the truth of it. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. You can feel it if you're Mormon, Southern Baptist, Catholic or none of the above. It's just TRUTH.
Not judgment. Not unkind thoughts or words. Not jealousy and hatred. LOVE.
We live in a world that is innately SELFISH.
What if we loved EACH OTHER as much as we love ourselves?
Can you imagine?
Here is the thing. Like Samson we all have incredible strength within us. We were all blessed with untold potential and opportunity for growth. Our spirits are beautiful and eternal.
But the human heart is fallible. Sometimes we can’t help who or what we love. We betray ourselves. It hurts.
Perhaps (like me) you can’t help that you love Oreo cookies. Perhaps you can’t help that you love cocaine and alcohol. Perhaps you can't help that you love porn. Perhaps you can’t help that you love to gossip and lash out with unkind words.
Perhaps you can’t help it NOW. However, (like Samson) we are all capable of change. Betterment.
I am forever praying for strength to be better.
Go and do thou likewise.
PS This dress was a recent splurge from Anthropologie. I feel very classic and girly. :)
