Sally and I watched Jared Halveson sharing some insights about the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. He shared a lot of insights about Samson. I have often wondered about Samson, and many other imperfect people mentioned in the scriptures and the amazing things that they accomplished while fulfilling their missions on this Earth. I hope that I will fulfil the mission that I was sent to fulfil, even although I know that I will make mistakes, have shortfalls, bloopers, errors, flops, or whatever one wishes to call them.
I shared the following thoughts with Jared and those who might take the time to read and consider what I wrote. I hope that anyone reading this will consider them and reflect on the mission that she or he was sent to fulfil - the one that she or he agreed to fulfil!
Thanks for the thoughts about the Book of Judges. I had some thoughts that came to mind about Samson. When I was on mission more than 40 years ago my father made a good observation. He said that he is very grateful that the Lord has excused us from judging others - He will do the judging. I am very grateful for that thought. I am relieved to not have to judge. I love the sinner, even if I do not love the sin! I am confident that the Lord will do a far better job than I possibly can of punishing someone for things for which they have not repented. But I also know that He looks for every reason to excuse us for things for which we repent - and repentance can happen after mortality. I often say that I am not sure if I would have volunteered for the job of Pilate, Judas Iscariot, or Samson. I wonder if Samson might have been mentally impaired? The scriptures say that Jesus went to the Jews because no-one else would crucify their King. Only the Jews were sufficiently committed to their Law that they would defend what they considered to be right, to the point of crucifying their Messiah! Maybe Samson was impaired and the Lord would not have been ignorant of his being impaired, but used him as an instrument in His hands to destroy the Philistines. I am not saying that I am right, but I am giving some room for benefit of the doubt. I have also pondered that King Saul may well have had the Bipolar Disorder since he was evidently manic at times and depressed at times. The Lord uses imperfect people - like me - to do His work. He would probably not have been surprised by what Samson did, and maybe Samson was the right person for the job. I reckon that I would have been hesitant to volunteer for the job… Would the Philistines have guessed that the lion in the vineyard would have had anything to do with the Nazarite Samson since a Nazarite ought not to have been in a vineyard, as you point out? Maybe Samson was mentally the age of a child and so did not recognise Delilah's folly. I don't know, but I try to judge on the side of mercy. I hope that people will do so when studying events from my life. Just a thought from Les Powrie in the Fairest Cape (Cape Town, South Africa)
This is a little bit of what might be in the argument for defence. I always hope that there will be a good argument for defence when I am on trial. Not denying the wrong that I did, but being merciful in the judgement if I did not deliberately choose to follow Satan, but made some errors in my thinking.
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