Each of us is prone to design heaven according to our own tastes. However, let us pause for just a minute and assume that we had the power to design our SVL community in this rather unique way. As an association we have bylaws and many rules but let us dream as if we really had a heavenly vote. If SVL were a heavenly abode, what would we look like?
Our perfect community would look as much like heaven as possible. We would live together according to heavenly priorities.
1. People not property.
2. Concern for others not power.
3. Mutual enjoyment of our circumstances long term (forever).
This is heaven, at least as far as God is concerned. What would be the yearly association fees for such a place?
G. Goslaw
Monday, April 19, 2010
Open Letter to the Board of Directors
Spring Valley Lake Association
13325 Spring Valley Parkway
Victorville, Ca. 92395
Mr. Glen Goslaw
Proxy for Mrs. Marjorie Goslaw (AC 360)
7983 SVL Box
Victorville, Ca. 92395
October 1, 2009
Dear Board of Directors:
This letter is not a notification of an assessment increase but rather to notify each of you that this one SVL homeowner is in opposition to your continued service on the Board of our community. Your style is to berate and belittle descent but this one voice will not be stifled. My action is in response to your lack of leadership and the refusal to hold yourselves to any standard of accountability.
As noted in a previous letter to this board, big government solutions to association management issues will compound our pain into the future. Real change begins when oversight failures are acknowledged and corrections instigated in full public view. Back room manipulation of any crisis is big government leadership. Our small pleasant community wants real people centered change. This may be an unfounded assumption but let us hope for the best.
Prior to the tenure of our current general manager, the juvenile mismanagement of our members interests were your team’s responsibility. Your leadership was and is SVL. There are three questions that any reasonable association board member should have address without direct prompting.
1. The accounting mess.
In this member‘s opinion, this mess is in your lap. The prior “sloppy at best accounting”(not my words) was on your watch. You will not own up to this responsibility. Instead,you hire a very competent firm at $8,ooo a month. This firm tells us at the meeting of August 26, Haney & Associates will “not” assess past accounting. This created a stir at the meeting and many asked, “if you won’t, who will?” Again, your members ask you,our leaders, who will? Our fear is that investigating past accounting is mere lip service because it was your system.
2. The security issue.
The security budget of the association has exploded in the last two years under your watch. Security visibility has increased proportionately but are we any safer? This member believes not. A criminal element lives in our community as it does in every community. We are very appreciative of the sheriff’s criminal sweep of this past Friday and the eleven arrests. Security visibility will not scare off this criminal element, to so assume is to be at least naive. To pay for this visibility we are being asked to fork over 7.5 % increase in assessments. You, our board, are acting in juxtaposition to this age of belt tightening mandates. Again, your members ask you, our leaders, are we any safer?
3. Association mismanagement
Credibility from the office of association management is one cause for our mistrust of this board. When employees are guilty of extreme misrepresentations to this member, some would use a better word, management is a failure. Rules are made up on the fly to hamper visibility and protect jobs. The bylaws of the association are not so specific as to address every issue. Like every business the association needs a written policy statement by board action.
Remember every policy passed by the board, the board owns. Possibly, that is why undue authority is delegated to management as has happened in the past. A change is needed. The new general manager, Jon Sabo, seems to be a capable and sincere administrator operating for the protection of our interests. He has signed onto a tough job and this member is willing to give him time. We have no such sentiment for the board, you have had your time and failed.
Some of us are experienced enough to remember the “Laugh In” television show. Well, this is a “sock it me “ letter. This is a no confidence vote and a call for new leadership. We shall not pay the 7.5 % increase, ever. For the above stated reasons, we vote NO!
Glen Goslaw
Proxy for Marjorie Goslaw ( AC 360 )
13325 Spring Valley Parkway
Victorville, Ca. 92395
Mr. Glen Goslaw
Proxy for Mrs. Marjorie Goslaw (AC 360)
7983 SVL Box
Victorville, Ca. 92395
October 1, 2009
Dear Board of Directors:
This letter is not a notification of an assessment increase but rather to notify each of you that this one SVL homeowner is in opposition to your continued service on the Board of our community. Your style is to berate and belittle descent but this one voice will not be stifled. My action is in response to your lack of leadership and the refusal to hold yourselves to any standard of accountability.
As noted in a previous letter to this board, big government solutions to association management issues will compound our pain into the future. Real change begins when oversight failures are acknowledged and corrections instigated in full public view. Back room manipulation of any crisis is big government leadership. Our small pleasant community wants real people centered change. This may be an unfounded assumption but let us hope for the best.
Prior to the tenure of our current general manager, the juvenile mismanagement of our members interests were your team’s responsibility. Your leadership was and is SVL. There are three questions that any reasonable association board member should have address without direct prompting.
1. The accounting mess.
In this member‘s opinion, this mess is in your lap. The prior “sloppy at best accounting”(not my words) was on your watch. You will not own up to this responsibility. Instead,you hire a very competent firm at $8,ooo a month. This firm tells us at the meeting of August 26, Haney & Associates will “not” assess past accounting. This created a stir at the meeting and many asked, “if you won’t, who will?” Again, your members ask you,our leaders, who will? Our fear is that investigating past accounting is mere lip service because it was your system.
2. The security issue.
The security budget of the association has exploded in the last two years under your watch. Security visibility has increased proportionately but are we any safer? This member believes not. A criminal element lives in our community as it does in every community. We are very appreciative of the sheriff’s criminal sweep of this past Friday and the eleven arrests. Security visibility will not scare off this criminal element, to so assume is to be at least naive. To pay for this visibility we are being asked to fork over 7.5 % increase in assessments. You, our board, are acting in juxtaposition to this age of belt tightening mandates. Again, your members ask you, our leaders, are we any safer?
3. Association mismanagement
Credibility from the office of association management is one cause for our mistrust of this board. When employees are guilty of extreme misrepresentations to this member, some would use a better word, management is a failure. Rules are made up on the fly to hamper visibility and protect jobs. The bylaws of the association are not so specific as to address every issue. Like every business the association needs a written policy statement by board action.
Remember every policy passed by the board, the board owns. Possibly, that is why undue authority is delegated to management as has happened in the past. A change is needed. The new general manager, Jon Sabo, seems to be a capable and sincere administrator operating for the protection of our interests. He has signed onto a tough job and this member is willing to give him time. We have no such sentiment for the board, you have had your time and failed.
Some of us are experienced enough to remember the “Laugh In” television show. Well, this is a “sock it me “ letter. This is a no confidence vote and a call for new leadership. We shall not pay the 7.5 % increase, ever. For the above stated reasons, we vote NO!
Glen Goslaw
Proxy for Marjorie Goslaw ( AC 360 )
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Association Email
Mr. Jon Sabo
General Manager
Spring Valley Lake Association
Dear sir:
Thank you for the numbers and information sent to our emails. It appears that the finances are“just” getting by with the prior cuts. The numbers do not reflect the balloned security force in effect for four years(?). It says nothing about the future. Please tell us how collections are going. What percentage of properties are in arears? May I ask Mr. Haney? Surely this is public information.
Respectfully,
ggoslaw
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Unasked Question
On Saturday April 3, a few of us gathered at the community center to hear from the candidates for four directorship’s on the new association board. The priorities of each of the candidates soon became clear. The time to argue priorities has passed for the current marked difference of opinion will remain after the election. However, amidst all the questioning, one question never got asked. The omission is startling.
What percentage of association members are not currently paying their membership annual dues? What percentage of properties are in arrears with the association? A parallel question would be, over the last two years, how many of these uncollected obligations were written off by our board? The answer to these questions would go a long way to deciding the direction of the associations spending habits. Are we in a financial crisis? If there is a collection problem, we are in a crisis and the board should act accordingly by aggressively cutting costs.
Possibly, this question was the elephant in the room.
g. goslaw
ggoslaw@gmail.com
Friday, April 2, 2010
SVL Election2010
Open Letter of opinion for the SVL voter.
This Spring Valley Lake resident would like to express an opinion as to the upcoming association election. This opinion has been formed from observing both management and the workings of the Board of Directors over the past year. Like so many other residents, our family shares the blame for the lack of oversight over the past 30 years. We stood by and allowed our beautiful community to sink into an era of lax governance. How many years has our community so languished, we can only guess?
The current board is to be congratulated for restoring some semblance of order. Those four incumbent candidates up for election appear to have exerted leadership in this effort over the past two years. Their most needed accomplishment was the hiring of a responsible experienced financial management company to oversee the monies. Some strides have been made to give us vision inside of the accounting process. The few interested residents are now given the opportunity to track the money month to month. Haney and Associates has finally updated our organization into 21st century status. Thank you Board of Directors for this professionalism.
A second positive accomplishment is the hiring of a professional experienced general manager, Mr. Jon Sabo. His leadership can be trusted to protect the interests of all property owners, be it the finances, the lake, the equestrian center or personnel in general. This is no small accomplishment by the Board of Director’s and again they are to be congratulated. An organization functions from the top down and now Mr. Sabo brings the credibility to see us into the future.
Lastly, the Board of Directors encouraged the prior general manager to leave. We are somewhat unsure of the exact circumstances but a change in leadership was an absolute requirement. A cursory examination of financial record keeping of his administration makes the quality of his leadership obvious. The in house accounting process, if there was one, was at best superficial and made no sense. At worst it was a massive rip off. No one would ever expect a 4000 member association to be operated in such a rinky-dink manner. The members of the board who supported such an administration should suffer a life long eviction from our political process. Whoever you are, please bough out quietly and gracefully.
This is the good news that occurred over the last year. The downside is that these positives are diminished by the Board of Director’s continuation of expansive spending priorities. Our goal as an association is not to be the largest employer in the county but to further enhance the best place to live. If spending contributes to our well living, it is a positive and to be supported. The current board has given superficial attention to this matter but in general it has operated business as usual.
In this era of big government cutbacks, our Board of Director’s will not say where assessments are going into the future. The silence means that they will be raised again. Mr. Marvin Anderson points out that annual assessments have risen from $ 310.00 just six years ago to $ 866.23 in 2009. They were raised again in the current year. This obscene inflation of assessment fees has to be addressed. As these fees rise, as more homes become problematic, more homeowners are unable to pay the assessment. This means that the rest of us have to pick up the tab. It is a very negative cycle, a cycle we are experiencing in the city, county, state and national arenas. Instead, the board should be cutting expenses and fees for the good of the whole community.
If the board had the will, where should it cut expenditures? The answer is,everywhere for this is a crisis. No area of the budget should be sacrosanct. However, in my casual observation of our operations, two areas appear to be worthy of brutal cuts. They are the security department and the administrative offices. The administrative offices are an easy call. Every voter should sit in the foyer and watch as most of the ladies try to look busy while they take turns with questions at the front desk. Office efficiency appears to be seriously lacking, to many hens in the henhouse.
The security department is where the most money can be saved. The present Board of Directors would like to convince us that the present level of services is all that is keeping us safe. Sunday’s Daily Press (Mar 28)had an article bragging on the state of security and the security department of SVL. Is our crime rate lower than the rest of the communities of the high desert? Of course it is but it has nothing to do with the size of the security force. SVL is rather isolated, we are a group of the more affluent, and we have none of the crime hot spots that infect all other communities.
A more scientific approach would be to compare the in house crime rate before and after the ballooning of the security department. Are we safer now after all the money and manpower expended? Those numbers would be informative. This slight of hand was also noted by the Daily Press article quoting Karen Hunt, the sheriff‘s Public Relations Officer. Larry Hoover , the SVL security guru, responded with a letter to the editor, March 29. His argument only makes the comparison to the rest of the communities nonsensical. We are a safer community for reasons that have nothing to do with the security department.
Another argument is that because security is so busy answering thousands of calls each month, surely present staffing is necessary. No information is ever extended to us about the nature of these calls. This is just an opinion, but it would be safe to bet that 95% are more or less nuisance calls, neurotic residents with nothing to do but complain about their lives. Our neighbor has two big beautiful Great Danes. Occasionally they may bark during the day but they are dogs, why can’t neighbors be neighbors? Talking face to face would surely accomplish more than calling security. We need not pay higher assessments for this foolishness.
The roving patrols are nonsense. If the motive really was to keep us safe, the greatest man hours would be utilized after four in the afternoon and on weekends. Of course those hours are not as cushy. The departmental hours should at least be cut in half with less supervision, fewer cars etc. etc. That is more security than this community will ever need or that this voter wants to pay to support. Our neighbors by and large are regular friendly people and not the snooty persona our board assumes that they serve.
These are some of the pro’s and con’s of SVL, let’s get back to the election. How shall we vote? This household will not vote a straight ticket because too much power means the board is free to ignore the members of the association and do their own thing. That is happening now, the board cowardly refuses to respond to any inquiry’s from the residents at board meetings. For that reason we shall not vote for Mr. Mahlum. We shall vote for a couple of the airr candidates and the upstart candidate Mr. Read. He appears to be the young level headed American, born and raised in SVL, who would consider the interests of us all. The goal of the election is to bring a cross section of people to the board.
Once elected, the continuing participation of members in the governing process is most important. To let others call the shots is to ask for trouble. Every board meeting I have attended has been a disappointment as to the turnout of members. Fifty out of four thousand members attend the meetings. This is shameful and it appears the board likes it that way, possibly their would be more involvement if we felt like our participation as more than a social club was appreciated. This is, however, the time to participate.
Let’s have an election!
G.Goslaw
7983 SVL Box
760-245-3244
ggoslaw.blogspot.com
April 3, 2010
This Spring Valley Lake resident would like to express an opinion as to the upcoming association election. This opinion has been formed from observing both management and the workings of the Board of Directors over the past year. Like so many other residents, our family shares the blame for the lack of oversight over the past 30 years. We stood by and allowed our beautiful community to sink into an era of lax governance. How many years has our community so languished, we can only guess?
The current board is to be congratulated for restoring some semblance of order. Those four incumbent candidates up for election appear to have exerted leadership in this effort over the past two years. Their most needed accomplishment was the hiring of a responsible experienced financial management company to oversee the monies. Some strides have been made to give us vision inside of the accounting process. The few interested residents are now given the opportunity to track the money month to month. Haney and Associates has finally updated our organization into 21st century status. Thank you Board of Directors for this professionalism.
A second positive accomplishment is the hiring of a professional experienced general manager, Mr. Jon Sabo. His leadership can be trusted to protect the interests of all property owners, be it the finances, the lake, the equestrian center or personnel in general. This is no small accomplishment by the Board of Director’s and again they are to be congratulated. An organization functions from the top down and now Mr. Sabo brings the credibility to see us into the future.
Lastly, the Board of Directors encouraged the prior general manager to leave. We are somewhat unsure of the exact circumstances but a change in leadership was an absolute requirement. A cursory examination of financial record keeping of his administration makes the quality of his leadership obvious. The in house accounting process, if there was one, was at best superficial and made no sense. At worst it was a massive rip off. No one would ever expect a 4000 member association to be operated in such a rinky-dink manner. The members of the board who supported such an administration should suffer a life long eviction from our political process. Whoever you are, please bough out quietly and gracefully.
This is the good news that occurred over the last year. The downside is that these positives are diminished by the Board of Director’s continuation of expansive spending priorities. Our goal as an association is not to be the largest employer in the county but to further enhance the best place to live. If spending contributes to our well living, it is a positive and to be supported. The current board has given superficial attention to this matter but in general it has operated business as usual.
In this era of big government cutbacks, our Board of Director’s will not say where assessments are going into the future. The silence means that they will be raised again. Mr. Marvin Anderson points out that annual assessments have risen from $ 310.00 just six years ago to $ 866.23 in 2009. They were raised again in the current year. This obscene inflation of assessment fees has to be addressed. As these fees rise, as more homes become problematic, more homeowners are unable to pay the assessment. This means that the rest of us have to pick up the tab. It is a very negative cycle, a cycle we are experiencing in the city, county, state and national arenas. Instead, the board should be cutting expenses and fees for the good of the whole community.
If the board had the will, where should it cut expenditures? The answer is,everywhere for this is a crisis. No area of the budget should be sacrosanct. However, in my casual observation of our operations, two areas appear to be worthy of brutal cuts. They are the security department and the administrative offices. The administrative offices are an easy call. Every voter should sit in the foyer and watch as most of the ladies try to look busy while they take turns with questions at the front desk. Office efficiency appears to be seriously lacking, to many hens in the henhouse.
The security department is where the most money can be saved. The present Board of Directors would like to convince us that the present level of services is all that is keeping us safe. Sunday’s Daily Press (Mar 28)had an article bragging on the state of security and the security department of SVL. Is our crime rate lower than the rest of the communities of the high desert? Of course it is but it has nothing to do with the size of the security force. SVL is rather isolated, we are a group of the more affluent, and we have none of the crime hot spots that infect all other communities.
A more scientific approach would be to compare the in house crime rate before and after the ballooning of the security department. Are we safer now after all the money and manpower expended? Those numbers would be informative. This slight of hand was also noted by the Daily Press article quoting Karen Hunt, the sheriff‘s Public Relations Officer. Larry Hoover , the SVL security guru, responded with a letter to the editor, March 29. His argument only makes the comparison to the rest of the communities nonsensical. We are a safer community for reasons that have nothing to do with the security department.
Another argument is that because security is so busy answering thousands of calls each month, surely present staffing is necessary. No information is ever extended to us about the nature of these calls. This is just an opinion, but it would be safe to bet that 95% are more or less nuisance calls, neurotic residents with nothing to do but complain about their lives. Our neighbor has two big beautiful Great Danes. Occasionally they may bark during the day but they are dogs, why can’t neighbors be neighbors? Talking face to face would surely accomplish more than calling security. We need not pay higher assessments for this foolishness.
The roving patrols are nonsense. If the motive really was to keep us safe, the greatest man hours would be utilized after four in the afternoon and on weekends. Of course those hours are not as cushy. The departmental hours should at least be cut in half with less supervision, fewer cars etc. etc. That is more security than this community will ever need or that this voter wants to pay to support. Our neighbors by and large are regular friendly people and not the snooty persona our board assumes that they serve.
These are some of the pro’s and con’s of SVL, let’s get back to the election. How shall we vote? This household will not vote a straight ticket because too much power means the board is free to ignore the members of the association and do their own thing. That is happening now, the board cowardly refuses to respond to any inquiry’s from the residents at board meetings. For that reason we shall not vote for Mr. Mahlum. We shall vote for a couple of the airr candidates and the upstart candidate Mr. Read. He appears to be the young level headed American, born and raised in SVL, who would consider the interests of us all. The goal of the election is to bring a cross section of people to the board.
Once elected, the continuing participation of members in the governing process is most important. To let others call the shots is to ask for trouble. Every board meeting I have attended has been a disappointment as to the turnout of members. Fifty out of four thousand members attend the meetings. This is shameful and it appears the board likes it that way, possibly their would be more involvement if we felt like our participation as more than a social club was appreciated. This is, however, the time to participate.
Let’s have an election!
G.Goslaw
7983 SVL Box
760-245-3244
ggoslaw.blogspot.com
April 3, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Amen!
March 21, 2010
G.Goslaw
7983 SVL Box
Victorville, CA. 92395
Dr. Ed Young
The Winning Walk
P.O. Box 1414
Houston, Texas 77251
Dear Dr. Young,
This listener’s miniscule opinion is that the winning walk is not about tickling ears to raise money. It is about challenging the anti-God power structures of every culture, to speak truth to power. The last two messages, 3/14 and 3/21, seem to call out our current secular forces for a little rumble. My best guess is that Jesus approves of these half hours of TV. I would like to add an Amen!
Was the earthly walk of Jesus a winning walk? Of course it was, his mission said that God has authority to advocate for all men and cultures regardless of the inevitable downside. The pseudo authorities of this world don’t agree and seek to erase any higher authority from the list of life options. The Church must advocate for we the cultural and spiritual captives of every age as the first priority of a divine calling.
Does the Church today stand up and confront? Generally, no, we are more like the beggar on the street corner asking for a handout. If begging is the only option, then beg. This is, however, a pathetic image of the church to present to the culture. Thank you for presenting we the church in a more biblical and confrontational light. Jesus did like to stir up the hornet nests of his day.
It would be of interest to this listener to know if these messages have been aired previously. If so, I apologize for missing the good stuff! They were confrontationally current, historically relevant and theologically on point. However, the biblical pattern of ministry is not for the faint of heart because winning will mean losing. This listener knows that you surely have counted the cost but minister on, thank you!
Enclosed is a check for $100 to help support your future efforts.
G.Goslaw
G.Goslaw
7983 SVL Box
Victorville, CA. 92395
Dr. Ed Young
The Winning Walk
P.O. Box 1414
Houston, Texas 77251
Dear Dr. Young,
This listener’s miniscule opinion is that the winning walk is not about tickling ears to raise money. It is about challenging the anti-God power structures of every culture, to speak truth to power. The last two messages, 3/14 and 3/21, seem to call out our current secular forces for a little rumble. My best guess is that Jesus approves of these half hours of TV. I would like to add an Amen!
Was the earthly walk of Jesus a winning walk? Of course it was, his mission said that God has authority to advocate for all men and cultures regardless of the inevitable downside. The pseudo authorities of this world don’t agree and seek to erase any higher authority from the list of life options. The Church must advocate for we the cultural and spiritual captives of every age as the first priority of a divine calling.
Does the Church today stand up and confront? Generally, no, we are more like the beggar on the street corner asking for a handout. If begging is the only option, then beg. This is, however, a pathetic image of the church to present to the culture. Thank you for presenting we the church in a more biblical and confrontational light. Jesus did like to stir up the hornet nests of his day.
It would be of interest to this listener to know if these messages have been aired previously. If so, I apologize for missing the good stuff! They were confrontationally current, historically relevant and theologically on point. However, the biblical pattern of ministry is not for the faint of heart because winning will mean losing. This listener knows that you surely have counted the cost but minister on, thank you!
Enclosed is a check for $100 to help support your future efforts.
G.Goslaw
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thou Shalt Not Kill
Then he said to them (the Levites), “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Exodus 32 : 27 & 28 TNIV
The grand assumption of most of the Christian world is the authority of Scripture. It is the given that the Holy Scriptures reveal divine truth for life. To question this hypothesis, is to invite the heresy label. True, when the new believer experiences the gospel the “good Book” rightly becomes a roadmap to the Kingdom or the God inspired life. However, there may be truth and then there may be truth.
For example, Moses comes down from the mountain and finds the family having a party around an idol. The Book says that God told Moses to go through the camp with a sword and slaughter 3000 of the family. Surely this was needed tough love, or was it? If that be the case, the party, the people and all we similar mortals are in trouble. Could there not be another angle on the truth?
Reading literally one must concluded that the God of Israel kills to defend His priorities. Let us not be so satisfied and read beyond the obvious. Biblical scholarship expresses this as “Sitz im Leben” or situation in life. The life setting of Moses as he came down from the mountain should be understood “as if” we were in his shoes. He was driven to a high isolated place where he had a close encounter with God. Pouring out his heart and life emotions, while fasting for thirty days, Moses witnessed a divine happening as his God describes the ultimate hope for His people. This hope was written on stone tablets.
Returning to the camp Moses was surely tired, hungry, thirsty, and emotionally drained. Certainly he was suffering withdrawal from the divine presence. The people’s party and rebellion seemed so foreign to his elevated encounter with God. Moses snapped. Have you ever snapped under life pressure? Moses was so furious he over reacted and ordered the self righteous killings. The decision seemed so right at the time, in his depressed condition, the orders must be from God. Have you ever blamed God for a bad decision made in the heat of life? The honest believer will certainly understand.
These are two very different ways of reading this passage from Scripture. Which reading is the truth of Scripture? The answer must be the readers. To this reader the answer is obvious. The unifying central theme of all Scripture is the love of God for all the people, sinner and saint. Ultimately, God wants us to model His love back to Him and to each other. This is the first commandment Moses brought down from the mountain. Jesus called it the greatest commandment and He was the only one of us who ever lived it. As in the other nine commandments, we fail miserably to accomplish them in fact or reality. We all are sinners or spiritual failures.
There is a self righteous bent to human nature, we all can claim that as well. Be it Muslim terrorism or Christian enthusiasm, the demand that our way is the only way seems to be universal and it is good to kill in it’s defense. Is not this self righteous propensity the engine of mankind’s history? There have always been wars and rumors of wars, all with justifiable self centered motives.
The writer of Exodus, probably Moses, attempts to divert to the Godhead the self righteous anger he could not control. The conflict wages within Moses, he reaches a compromise by blaming God for the killing which allows him to argue in the peoples defense. Then retreats into the violence he had opposed. The story seems to have little consistency. Let us remember that centuries of retelling may have increasingly sought to protect the reputation of Moses. However, the truth of the account remains.
The Coming Kingdom of God, the Kingdom under construction, will not be so ordered. That Kingdom will be the ultimate hope of Moses, the Ten Commandments and the One God of Scripture. In the interim, we believers, sinners though we be, are marching to the drumbeat of the long awaited rule of Him who is all consistent. We are inconsistent marchers but by God’s grace, we are the Kingdom now.
G.Goslaw
The grand assumption of most of the Christian world is the authority of Scripture. It is the given that the Holy Scriptures reveal divine truth for life. To question this hypothesis, is to invite the heresy label. True, when the new believer experiences the gospel the “good Book” rightly becomes a roadmap to the Kingdom or the God inspired life. However, there may be truth and then there may be truth.
For example, Moses comes down from the mountain and finds the family having a party around an idol. The Book says that God told Moses to go through the camp with a sword and slaughter 3000 of the family. Surely this was needed tough love, or was it? If that be the case, the party, the people and all we similar mortals are in trouble. Could there not be another angle on the truth?
Reading literally one must concluded that the God of Israel kills to defend His priorities. Let us not be so satisfied and read beyond the obvious. Biblical scholarship expresses this as “Sitz im Leben” or situation in life. The life setting of Moses as he came down from the mountain should be understood “as if” we were in his shoes. He was driven to a high isolated place where he had a close encounter with God. Pouring out his heart and life emotions, while fasting for thirty days, Moses witnessed a divine happening as his God describes the ultimate hope for His people. This hope was written on stone tablets.
Returning to the camp Moses was surely tired, hungry, thirsty, and emotionally drained. Certainly he was suffering withdrawal from the divine presence. The people’s party and rebellion seemed so foreign to his elevated encounter with God. Moses snapped. Have you ever snapped under life pressure? Moses was so furious he over reacted and ordered the self righteous killings. The decision seemed so right at the time, in his depressed condition, the orders must be from God. Have you ever blamed God for a bad decision made in the heat of life? The honest believer will certainly understand.
These are two very different ways of reading this passage from Scripture. Which reading is the truth of Scripture? The answer must be the readers. To this reader the answer is obvious. The unifying central theme of all Scripture is the love of God for all the people, sinner and saint. Ultimately, God wants us to model His love back to Him and to each other. This is the first commandment Moses brought down from the mountain. Jesus called it the greatest commandment and He was the only one of us who ever lived it. As in the other nine commandments, we fail miserably to accomplish them in fact or reality. We all are sinners or spiritual failures.
There is a self righteous bent to human nature, we all can claim that as well. Be it Muslim terrorism or Christian enthusiasm, the demand that our way is the only way seems to be universal and it is good to kill in it’s defense. Is not this self righteous propensity the engine of mankind’s history? There have always been wars and rumors of wars, all with justifiable self centered motives.
The writer of Exodus, probably Moses, attempts to divert to the Godhead the self righteous anger he could not control. The conflict wages within Moses, he reaches a compromise by blaming God for the killing which allows him to argue in the peoples defense. Then retreats into the violence he had opposed. The story seems to have little consistency. Let us remember that centuries of retelling may have increasingly sought to protect the reputation of Moses. However, the truth of the account remains.
The Coming Kingdom of God, the Kingdom under construction, will not be so ordered. That Kingdom will be the ultimate hope of Moses, the Ten Commandments and the One God of Scripture. In the interim, we believers, sinners though we be, are marching to the drumbeat of the long awaited rule of Him who is all consistent. We are inconsistent marchers but by God’s grace, we are the Kingdom now.
G.Goslaw
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