From our Torah for this week (i.e., Ki Tavo) we read: “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this Torah to do them” (Deut. 27:26). This is because God is God, ultimate reality is non-negotiable, and we are entirely and eternally accountable for all that we do (Matt. 12:36; Heb. 4:13). “Each person’s deeds will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of deeds each one has done” (1 Cor. 3:13). There is a Scroll that attests the reality of all truth, and the life of every soul created by God is recorded therein (Rev. 20:12).
We are forbidden to add or subtract from Torah, since that is to refashion God’s message into one of our own understanding (Deut. 4:2). Reading the tochachah or “rebuke” in our portion (i.e., Deut. 28:15-68) is difficult and painful, though it serves as a bitter medicine to wake us up from our lethal coma. In that sense the tochechah is a great blessing, since it shocks us into experiencing the “gravity of God’s grace.” This is why Yeshua proclaimed grave warnings about the dangers of forfeiting life and thereby “receiving” hell… Sin is a lethal problem, and we must turn to God for healing or we will die.
The Lord does not allow us to trifle with the truth, neither will he offer us a good that excludes Divine Reality since there simply is no such thing. God does not give us the option of affecting existential indifference toward Him, since apathy is as much a spiritual decision as is outright rebellion and apostasy. “If anyone thinks he has faith yet is indifferent toward this possession, is neither hot nor cold, he can be certain that he does not have faith. If anyone thinks he is a Christian and yet is indifferent toward being that, then he is not really one at all. Indeed what would we think of a person who gave assurances that he was in love and also that it was a matter of indifference to him?” (Kierkegaard: Works of Love). “Guard me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you” (Psalm 16:1-2).
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