YOLB-Month 7

Answer the following questions on the blog or hand in a hardcopy by Friday, December 4th.

1.On Page 208 Jacobs is told to stop using the Bible as a "self help" book. Based on the the information given by his adviser Yossi what is the role of religion and why is Jacobs on "thin ice?"

The Bible is meant to help people worship God, not help themselves. People would be selfish if they believed the Bible was created only to help them. However, many people look at it as a "self help" book to find out how to be a better person, be happier and feel better about themselves. But Yossi says religion is about serving God, and not worrying about yourself. However, the nature of humankind is to be selfish, since everything we do is to help ourselves. Even if for example, we might be going to a homeless shelter to serve Thanksgiving dinner, we are doing it subconsciously because helping others makes us feel better inside. As much as we might try, we can not escape our selfish ways.

Yossi says Jacobs is on thin ice because he is almost heading in the wrong direction with religion. He is looking at the Bible as a self help book, on how to become a better person. And he has trouble with glorifying God. Yossi believes this situation should be flipped. Jacobs should not read the Bible to help himself, and he should glorify God because God wanted to help humans become less selfish. But in a way...this brings this whole topic back to selfishness because then, according to Yossi, people would glorify God to become less selfish, and become a better person. It just goes in circles.

2.On page 219 - 220 Jacobs describes his experience of being "hit" with a realization like a punch in the stomach and then he "praises the Lord." What was his realization and how does this reconcile a problem he previously had in his search of religion?

Jacob realizes that when he is proud of an article he wrote for Esquire, God should be proud for a lot more. God created the entire world, all the animals, plants and landforms, and all Jacobs did was write an article for a magazine. Jacob's previous problem was not being able to praise God because he thought worshiping and saying things like "...He who has greatness beyond our comprehension (220)." was way over the top and cheesy. He also didn't understand why God needed praising because God shouldn't be insecure about himself if he is the ultimate being. Jacob's realizes that the reason people praise God is they appreciate all he created in the world, and all he did for humankind. But, the praise isn't for God to feel better about himself, it is to help us as humans. It is to take us out of our selfish minds, and thank someone else.
Personally, I am the same way. I believe praising the Lord with fancy words is a bit over the top, but now reading his take on it, it makes more sense why people would worship the Lord. However, I still believe that many people don't understand this and don't have as much excitement to worship the Lord, as they would if they read this passage. However, after reading this I still wonder, if God wanted us to worship something/someone to take us out of our selfish minds, why would he choose himself? Is that not selfish in itself?