{"id":1767,"date":"2011-02-15T10:16:32","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T14:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shieldsgroup.com\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2011-02-15T10:18:13","modified_gmt":"2011-02-15T14:18:13","slug":"a-pitfall-of-mathematicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shieldsgroup.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/15\/a-pitfall-of-mathematicians\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pitfall of Mathematicians…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first several minutes of this podcast were not recorded. As such, the intro is printed here<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you react when you are treated unjustly?\u00a0I remember my friend Seth, who\u00a0was attending Clarion University in the 1970\u2019s when the college suddenly dropped his major and told him he could either change to a different degree program or drop out.\u00a0Seth felt that was unfair. It was.<\/p>\n

And I remember another friend of mine, Jim.\u00a0He wanted to be a State Policeman, but after he received his degree in criminology, the personnel at the PSP told him they were required to hire minorities, and although he was more qualified, he would not be hired. \u00a0Both of these men faced something they considered unfair to them.<\/p>\n

How did they respond? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Differently.<\/p>\n

Seth responded by figuratively crossing his arms and saying, \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d\u00a0He walked away from school and took a job stocking groceries on the night-shift and smoking pot on weekends.\u00a0Despite the fact that he was incredibly intelligent, he let his life fritter away until it ended tragically in a car accident, driven by one of his friends who was intoxicated.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Jim responded in anger, but he quickly realized that he could not expect life to treat him fairly.\u00a0But instead of pouting about it he invested himself in what became a very successful private business that he eventually sold at a great profit so he could retire early.\u00a0I am pretty sure Jim\u2019s quality of life as a businessman was better than it would have been, had he been able to use his criminology degree.\u00a0And it was much better than it would have been had he remained bitter toward society and toward God.<\/p>\n

The Bible has some examples of people who, feeling as though God was being unfair, responded poorly. <\/strong>Jonah was one of them.\u00a0As you page through his short book, you can see that in Jonah\u2019s story.\u00a0It begins with Jonah\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

Jonah 1 (NIV) 1<\/sup>The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:\u00a02<\/sup>\u201cGo to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know why, at this point, but Jonah didn\u2019t want to go preach to the wicked people of Nineveh.\u00a0He ended up being ejected from the ship and in the belly of a great fish.<\/p>\n

4<\/sup>Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.<\/em><\/p>\n

11<\/sup>The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, \u201cWhat should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?\u201d
\n12<\/sup>\u201cPick me up and throw me into the sea,\u201d he replied, \u201cand it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

15<\/sup>Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.<\/em><\/p>\n

17<\/sup>But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.<\/em><\/p>\n

2:10 10<\/sup>And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.<\/em><\/p>\n

3:1 1<\/sup>Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2<\/sup>\u201cGo to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.\u201d 3<\/sup>Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city\u2014a visit required three days. 4<\/sup>On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: \u201cForty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the people of Nineveh repented. (The podcast below picks up here.)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

5<\/sup>The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6<\/sup>When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7<\/sup>Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: \u201cBy the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8<\/sup>But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9<\/sup>Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s repentance.<\/p>\n

10<\/sup>When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now in chapter four you see why Jonah was on the run in the first chapter.<\/p>\n

4:1\u00a01<\/sup>But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2<\/sup>He prayed to the LORD, \u201cO LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em>Here is Jonah\u2019s problem:\u00a0He felt God was being unjust in forgiving the wicked Ninevites.<\/p>\n

Jonah had a mathematical formula in his head that went like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Good Behavior = A Good Life
\n<\/em>If I am a good person, my life should be good.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bad Behavior = A Bad Life
\n<\/em>If you are a bad person, you should suffer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some of us have the same formula. If we don’t get rid of it, we’ll be right beside Jonah, despondently sitting on a hillside pouting.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This podcast helps us avoid The Pitfall of the Mathematician.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n