A Break from Silence

It is hard to believe how much has changed in one month, since my last post. There is to much for me to touch on, or even remember, right now. Instead, I will be writing regularly again and you should hear about some of it!

I have been meaning to make another post, but lacked the will to. I kept on waiting for something to happen that I wanted to talk about, and for it to happen at a time where I had lots of spare time to write (while being bored). Well... that time is now! I don't want to play computer games, don't want to eat, am tired from an active weekend, and have something to talk about. Step one to becoming active again.

There has been a recent craze going around about the Hunger Games. A popular book series that has had a movie adaptation. I haven't read the books yet because it would take time from school, but I plan to this summer.

Now, for the reason I mention this. For a reason I couldn't identify at first, the very mention of the Hunger Games stirred up lots of emotions. As I heard the story described, and later saw the movie, I had one of the deepest emotional connections yet. I wasn't completely sure why. Even the cover of the book or mention of the name would do it for me. And there's more to it than the fact that most of the action takes place in a forest. I enjoy forests and trees... but that didn't justify the way I felt when I thought about it.

I believe it is a combination of many different things, but the biggest is the games themselves. The games are a means of public entertainment, pitting kids against other kids. The rules are set up in a way that would potentially allow for an 18 year old male to fight against a 12 year old little girl, for the entertainment of the masses. It is in my nature to protect, especially the weak. That is why I am so emotionally connected to this series, because I want to protect these kids, especially the little girls. But instead, their slaughter is for nothing more than the amusement of the masses (and as punishment for a previous "rebellion").

Were the rules to bring the two champions, the greatest fighters, from each district, I would probably feel different. First off, because of the basic way biology and society works, most, if not all, of the "tributes" would be mature males. There is a reason armies are usually made up of men. However, the rules often force small children who couldn't even survive a night on their own in the wilderness to fight against others who are much older and stronger.

Part of the reason the rules would be set up like this was as a reminder to the twelve districts who is in control, and to make them feel helpless. Seeing their young children slaughtered for entertainment would have quite a heavy effect on people. Especially when that had been done as long as they could remember.

That is the main reason, I believe, why this series sticks out so much to me.

What do you think? Have you read the books or seen the movie? What do you like or not like about it? And why? Comment!

The Armorer

[So here's a little parable I wrote a couple years back, with minimal editing. Please comment and share this so others can see it.]

Back in the time of swords and spears; back in the time of bows and arrows; back
in the time where God and science were one. Back in the time of the Medieval era, there
was an Armorer. He had been taught by his master how to make armor, as his master
before, and his master before that, and so on. He had been taught things about making
armor that were as old as armor itself.
But he had been taught more than that. He had been taught things about mankind,
those who would wear his armor, that were as old, and older, than man itself. He had
been taught about God, and how to listen to him.

And now, in this time, there was a war going on. This war had been raging for
generations. And this armorer, and his fathers before him, had been making armor for the
soldiers. But they made no ordinary armor. When they made armor, they were lead by
God, to make armor that would fit the exact needs of the one who would wear it. And for
generations this armor had been accepted. But now it was no more.
The armor that this armorer made was shaped irregularly; it was hard to move
properly. The armor had been designed to protect a certain thing at a certain time, as God
had intended. The armor was designed for a single moment, to protect them from the one
blow that would end their life. But the soldiers didn’t care, they wanted the new armor.
This armor was light, covered everything evenly, and looked better. It was made faster,
and they were all the same.

But there was one soldier who was different than all the other soldiers. He
believed that what the armorer made was better, better because it was designed by God.
His father had taught him about God, and told him stories about how He has a plan, how
He is wiser than all of man. And he believed that there was a plan with this armor. But he
didn’t understand his plan up to this point. He had been a peaceful farmer his whole life.
Yet he was drafted into the military. He hadn’t seen his wife in years, didn’t even know if
he would ever have any kids. But he knew there was a reason.
This soldier went to the armorer, and asked for a piece of special armor. The
armorer was glad to have someone who was willing to put their trust in his armor, and
God. So the armorer took his time making it. He took several days praying and seeking
out what this armor should look like. And then, after many more days, he presented the
armor to the soldier. Both the armorer and the soldier had been disappointed when they
had seen it the first time, the armorer while he was making it, and the soldier when it was
given to him. The armor was only a three inch thick circle of steel, only about as wide as
a fist. He was told to strap it over his stomach. He thanked the armorer, then he went off
to war.

The soldier fought with this awkward armor for many days. Then one day the
army was trying to hold a village. Reinforcements were hours away. They had been fighting all day. Fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, friends, even woman and children
had all died in the fighting that happened that day. The rest of the soldiers were fighting
great. With their modern armor, they could get hit and shrug it off. They could fight
freely, without restraint or being thrown off balance. But they weren’t protected from the
one fatal blow that would always end their life. But this soldier only had his one piece
of ridiculous armor. He was getting cut and beat up left and right. He had almost no
protection.
Near the end of the day, when no one thought they could go on any longer, and
that reinforcements would never come, a boy was seen crying in a burnt hut. He was
only a few years old, but he was crying loud. And an enemy soldier heard this boy, and
became irritated. So he aimed a crossbow, the most advanced weapon of the time, a
weapon that allowed a soldier with almost no training to kill a heavily armored knight,
who had been trained his whole life, in one shot. He took aim at the boy, and was about
to fire. But the soldier, the one with the strange piece of armor, ran and covered the boy
with his body.
Then the crossbow was fired. It went straight though the soldier with ease. But it
became imbedded in the armor, the specially designed armor. The bolt was stuck halfway
through the steel, the steel that was directly above the little boy. After the bolt struck,
many other bolts and arrows started to fire. But they were all fired at enemy soldiers.
The reinforcements they had been waiting for had finally come! But the soldier, as he lay
there dying, wondered how this armor was so special. It hadn’t protected him at all. Then
he looked at the child in his arms, the child that would live because of his armor, and
knew why the armor was so special. Or did he?

What that soldier didn’t know, and what the boy found out later, was that that boy
was his son. When the father had been drafted into the army, he had left his wife home
pregnant. But he didn’t know that. And with time, the mother wasn’t able to work, so she
moved in with some distant family members in a village many weeks journey away. And
that boy had been growing up in that village. Then one day, a group of soldiers came to
defend that village. A village full of woman and children, including the mother and son.
And one of the soldiers defending that village was wearing a very odd piece of armor. A
single circle of steel about as wide as a fist and three inches thick over his stomach.
And near the end of that day, most everyone in that village had been killed.
Soldier, peasant, man, woman, adult and child alike. Only a few were still alive. Those
few, amongst others, included the soldier, the boy, and the mother. The next day, a list of
all causalities was taken up. It was found that all male descendants of all the soldiers had
died in that battle, except the son of that one soldier. The one soldier who still accepted
the plan of God. And that soldier was the only soldier of that day whose bloodline
continued. And continues now.

And now, if any of these things were to happen you, what would you do? Would
you still do what God had designed you to do, even if no one accepts you for doing it?
Would you still follow Gods plan, even if no one else around you does? If someone were
to give their life for you, would you want to make that sacrifice worth it?
Who are you in this story? Are you the armorer? The soldier? The son? Are you
some one else in this story? I hope that reading this changes yours or somebody else’s
life, or makes them see things in a new light. Or teaches them something new, maybe
something about God? I’ve learned some things in writing this, and now I’m passing this
on to you, and whoever you pass this on to, and so on. Am I the armorer? Or had God
passed this on to me, like the soldier passed life on to his son? That’s something for me to
learn. And I hope you learn your place to.

The Three

"But the godless are like thorns to be thrown away, for they tear the hand that touches them. One must use iron tools to chop them down; they will be totally consumed by fire."

I was preparing to right this post when I suddenly read this passage immediately before the section I was going to talk about. It seemed to fit will as a means of explaining what I am about to talk about. So what am I talking about than? War.

Warriors specifically. To be even more specific, I will be focusing mainly on three warriors: Jashobeam, Eleazar, and Shammah. These were David's mightiest warriors out of all his mighty warriors. These guys were the best of the best. And they weren't simply labeled that; they earned it.

Let's start with Jashobeam. He lead these three warriors, the "three mightiest warriors among David's men".

Before I begin telling you about him though, let me just say a few things. I had heard of these guys, and others before, but literally just hours before writing this I rediscovered them. I became fascinated very quickly by many of the war heroes in the Bible. I chose to write of these three for now. I could probably go on for a long time though about the warriors of old (both in biblical and nonbiblical texts).

Now, Jashobeam. How to put it... Okay, I got it! To become an Ace today in the airforce, you have to get five confirmed kills. Jashobeam would have become an Ace, 40 times, in one single battle. Using just his spear, against an army. That means in one single encounter, Jashobeam killed 800 men. 800 men! And my Bible says "He once used his spear to kill 800 enemy warriors in a single battle" (emphasis mine). This was just one single battle for him. Thas was obviously his largest, because why would anyone choose to tell of a smaller victory, but it still leaves you (or at least me) wondering how many he killed in all his years as a warrior. On the many video games I see these days with kill/death ratios, if there was someone with 800 kills and 0 deaths, he would be banned for hacking! Yet we see that same ratio happen here, and no hacking (except what Jashobeam possibly did to the bodies of his foes). And of course, as I said, you must remember that this was just one battle!

Okay, so Jashobeam was the mightiest of all David's warriors. So he was the main leader of more ordinary warriors, right? Wrong!

"Next in rank among the Three was Eleasar son of Dobai, a descendant of Ahoah. Once Ealeazar and David stood together against the Philistines when the entire Istraelite army had fled."

So let me explain this to you. Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Philistines are the bad guys, and the entire good guy army just ran away. Except for David and Eleazar. The entire Israelite army! Except for these two guys, just left standing there. Here's what happens next:

"He killed Philistines until his hand was too tired to lift his sword, and the Lord gave him a great victory that day. The rest of the army did not return until it was time to collect the plunder!"

So, these two big armies came together to fight. The good guys run, except for their leader and one of his best warriors. The entire enemy army attacks. These two men kill all of them. The entire Israelite army that fled merely comes back to find a field strewn with corpses of the Philistines, and all they have to do is collect the plunder. And I highly doubt these "armies" were small warbands of a few dozen warriors. When we read other mentions of the Philistines, and other enemies of Israel, as well as the armies of Israel itself, we hear of numbers in the thousands. Or tens of thousands. Or even hundreds of thousands! So I really doubt that David and Eleazar fought a few dozen men. After all, Jashobeam killed 800 in one encounter! How many Philistines lay dead at the end of this day? I can only imagine...

And finally, Shammah. The third warrior in the Three.

"One time the Philistines gathered at Lehi and attacked the Israelites in a field full of lentils. The Israelite army fled,"

I'm starting to see a patter here. The Israelites and the Philistines come together to fight, then the Israelites run away. But...

"but Shammah held his ground in the middle of the field and beat back the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory."

One of Israelites great leaders/warriors seem to come and save the day. Okay, reread that section above. "but Shamah held his ground. . . and beat back the Philistines" Not only did Shammah kill them, he actually drove them back! Now this is one man we are talking about here! Once again, we see the Israelite army run, but this time we see one warrior stay behind. And do the work of an entire army.

Now I challenge you to find one historical example (other than the Bible, there are several) of someone, anyone, who can beat these exploits. And remember, the Philistines are known for having large armies. Whenever I hear the word "Philistines" in the Bible associated with a number, that number is always at least a thousand. So, we've seen instances of two men killing an entire army and one man driving an entire army back. Yet another of one man killing 800 enemy soldiers with his spear in one battle. Beat that. Can you find one provable instance of anyone else in history who can do something like that? Likely not, since these were men of the Almigthy.

Oh, and just to top it off, one final exploit of the Three was thrown in. The Philistines occupied Bethlehem, and David wanted a drink from the well at the gates of Bethlehem. So when the Three heard this, what did they do? Did they just think to themselves "well, once the Philistines leave we'll make sure our first task is to get him a drink"? No. Did they decide to gather the army and attack? Nope.

They broke through the Philistine lines at Bethlehem themself to get a drink for David. Three men broke into the city occupied by the enemy army just to get some water from a well. Then what happened? David saw the water as to good for him to drink, or as he said "This water is as precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me." So he offered it to the Almighty instead.

So the score so far:

Jeshobeam: killed 800 men in one battle

Eleazar: killed an entire army with David

Shammah: drove back in entire army by himself

The Three: broke through enemy lines in an occupied town to gather water from a well which was used as an offering for the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

Beat that. I beg of you, beat it.