Yom Kippur is Upon Us

Today is Yom Kippur. The Jewish day of atonement. It is the last in a contiguous series of holidays, beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. During these days, Jews are supposed to reflect and repent. They are to acknowledge their sins and resolve to do better. I wonder if this is where we get the New Year’s resolution concept.

I got up this morning, fully aware that it was Yom Kippur, and I looked at the TV (I use the Weather Channel as an alarm), and what did I see? A flood warning. For real. Don’t tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor. For the atheists and the forgetful, let me point out that the Biblical flood was a punishment for an unrepentant world.

The sky isn’t the only place where clouds gather and storms threaten. Look at Wall Street. Look at Iran, North Korea, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela. We are perched on the edge of a cliff.

The truth is, we’re always perched on the edge of a cliff. It’s just not obvious. We look at our possessions and our armies and our abilities, and we think our lives are completely secure. Of course, they’re not. You can be rich and powerful and die from a fall in your bathtub. The things you cling to for security can be taken away in an instant. You can be taken down overnight. Look at Kim Jong Il. Earlier this year, he was one of the most powerful and dangerous men alive. He’s probably wearing a diaper right now.

The Bible is full of examples of people who partied their way into the abyss. People who became powerful, misattributed their success to themselves or to pagan gods, and then suffered catastrophes.

I believe that if you want God to look out for you, you always have to be careful about giving Him credit for your success, and you have to be careful about how you get what you have. Americans are falling short. Pride is now considered a virtue. And we have become drunk on a steady flow of quick money. My sense of the moment is not that God is judging us. It seems to me that He’s just slapping us awake. This is not a Depression, and we have not been conquered, and there is no famine, and there is no plague. But we’re being reminded that we can lose what we have. To some, that is incentive to continue living it up, while the good times last. To the wise, it is incentive to shape up.

I’m reading up on Yom Kippur. Here’s something interesting. Jewish holidays are connected to Christian holidays. For example, Jesus was sacrificed during the week of Passover, and the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit on Shavuot. Some Christians believe Yom Kippur foreshadows the final day of judgment. That sounds reasonable to me. It has to have some meaning to us; it would be unlike God to create a holiday as important as this, without giving it some significance to Christians.

Here is something else: Jews are expected to confess their sins, apologize for wrongs, and forgive others on this day. That makes sense. God generally expects us to treat others the way we hope He will treat us.

I don’t know how much hope there is for the US, but there is always hope for the individual. I am thinking about the significance of Yom Kippur today, and I am trying to take advantage. I hope you’ll consider doing the same. We may be about to endorse socialism (a substitute for God and righteousness) and humanism by putting a far-left liberal in the White House. Our country may be headed for a decline, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be dragged along in the current.

Yom Kippur is winding down in Jerusalem. Mish Weiss says she has forgiven everyone who did her wrong during the last year. I wonder if that means she forgave me for yammering at her to consume animal products! You might drop by her blog and say a prayer for her, and for Leah Friedman, who is still recovering from surgery.