Everybody has the answer

My wife Dana suffers from asthma. Her attacks are not frequent, but they are severe when she has one and it usually takes several months for her to recuperate. She was diagnosed about 10 years ago, but hers doesn't seem to be "normal" asthma. Ever since she started having problems everyone has an answer for her problem. Here in the Caribbean it is even worse, as everyone has an answer and is dying to share it with here. It is so bad that the preacher in Moca, the first time she was there and was coughing advised the brethren that she had had this problem for 10 years and had already heard more remedies than a person could "test" in a lifetime. Even so she received one more that afternoon.

Depending on the culture the remedies range from vitamins, herbs, bee propolis to pine bark and even lizard soup (don't know if that's the anole lizard, the iguana, or the ground lizard--didn't inquire that far). But in our desire to help, or just be busybodies, we all "want" to share our answer for Dana's problem. She's tried some of them and they haven't worked for her, but we get new ones frequently--everybody has the answer.

It seems that advice in the spiritual realm is much the same--everybody has the answer! If you don't believe it, just listen to the TV & radio talk shows. One "expert" assures us "gay is good" while another decries it. One tells us "divorce is victimless" while another says "divorce only affects the couple" and still another admits "divorce affects everyone, including grandparents". The tragic thing is that while men are busy "thinking" and then spewing their "answers", the real answers can be found in the Bible. Oh, I know, the Bible is seen by many to be "antiquated" and "out of date", but the longer we try "our answers" the more we realize that God's answers were always the best. Why does God hate divorce? Could it be because He wants the best for us and knows that divorce affects everyone involved, no matter how far away they seem to be for the worse.

The book of Judges describes a tumultuous time in the nation of Israel. It can best be characterized by a phrase that appears at least 3 times within it--"In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes." When every man seeks his own answers there is chaos and problems. When a society seeks, and follows, God's answers there is peace, tranquility, and prosperity.

Tol