Content Page
• Question One: My life Crisis.............................Pg2
• Question Two: COPING STAEGIES MENTIONED IN THE PRESCRIBED BOOK WHICH IS APPROPREATE FOR DEALING WITH A CRISIS OF THIS NATURE.....................................................................Pg3
• QUESTION THREE.......................................................Pg5
• Bibliography.............................................................. Pg8
MODULE OTS 2603 LIFE ORIENTATION: BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
ASSIGNMENT TWO: UNIQUE NO: 879769 STUDENT NO: 5409195
J.MOONSAMY
MODULE OTS 2603 LIFE ORIENTATION: BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
ASSIGNMENT TWO: UNIQUE NO: 879769 STUDENT NO: 5409195
J.MOONSAMY
QUESTION ONE
MY LIFE CRISIS
I matriculated in 1981 and registered with the University of Durban Westville to study towards a Bachelor of Arts Degree. The following year I was granted a place at the college of Education in Lodium, Johannesburg, furious with the department of education for not allowing me to study in Durban although the college was five doors away from my home, I rebelled and refused to go to Johannesburg, instead I joined a local bank where I worked as a teller, ATM consultant for eighteen years, during these years (at age 21) I met and married my first wife who was with child when I was at university. My first wife and I in our seven years of marriage brought forth three wonderful boys. However I was miserable and frustrated my dreams of becoming a teacher was shattered and while I worked my first wife was able to complete her studies at college. We both tried very hard to make our marriage work but after much counselling and heartache she decided to end the marriage.
One year later we both tried to reconcile our differences and live together to try and salvage whatever was left of our relationship and grow our three wonderful boys, over the years we grew more and more apart and when all our boys matriculated we decided to go our separate ways. This was a very traumatic time in my live, I remember spending days and nights in tears, reading the bible (Psalms 119) praying and trying to find answers to so many questions at the same time, I was trying to move on from this crisis which changed my life.
This life crisis effected many other walks of my life. Firstly, I had to fight to be a part of my children’s lives, whom I love dearly, my faith was at an all time low, being actively involved in church I had to quit my bible teaching responsibilities in Sunday school, I had to deal with the fact that I also disappointed my parents, my dad especially who wanted me to study teaching, my mum although disappointed, never stopped praying for me to be Ordained as a Pastor. Divorce is an area that was very taboo in my culture as an Indian and in my Faith community. I could see over the years that this life crisis closed many doors of opportunity which was once opened for me.
I had to leave my hometown and denomination and try and start a life all over again, twenty five years later, through much prayer, studying the bible and introspection, the changes I made both within myself and my environment was now bearing fruit. I am now an ordained Pastor (thanks to my late Mum) and I am studying towards my final year of my Bachelor of Arts Degree (thanks to my late Dad). I am re-married with another boy and only daughter and have a good relationship with all my children and my son Julian from my first marriage is now living with me. I am blessed by the grace of God and his word the bible, which has helped me come through my life crisis. At the time of studying this module, my son Julian has reached out to me for help in dealing with his life crisis of being addicted to crack cocaine and going through a divorce. While studying through the prescribed book, I was able to share with him the Grip, Grapple, and Grow strategies to cope with his life crises, and he is responding very well to this new found hope in his process of healing and recovery.
QUESTION TWO STUDENT NO: 5409195
COPING STAEGIES MENTIONED IN THE PRESCRIBED BOOK WHICH IS APPROPREATE FOR DEALING WITH A CRISIS OF THIS NATURE.
The search for happiness and meaning is an ongoing process of trial and error; nobody is born with the formula of these two fundamental ingredients for a human being to find their purpose and place in life. Along the journey in our quest to find happiness and meaning, we encounter many life crisis, some self induced by poor choices that we make and some life crisis arise as the result of us being victims of circumstance. The prescribed book has taught me many insights to cope with our life crisis, some were familiar as I remember the strategies I put in place when dealing with my own life crisis.
Chapter three explores the Grip, Grapple and Grow strategies in dealing with life crisis. The study by Elizabeth Kubler Ross on the reaction to people to life crisis was appropriate to my experience of my life crisis.
The first step was: Denial and Isolation (I did not want to accept that I was a divorced man who would not be able to teach and preach, I began to isolate myself from society).
The second step was Anger: (I became angry at God, myself and the people around me).
The third step was Bargaining (I told God if he got me through my life crisis, I will serve Him the rest of my life “so far... so good”)
The forth step was Depression: the process of divorce is a very depressing time for everyone involved including the children, I remember my bank manager saying that “divorce is worse than death”
The fifth step was Acceptance
it was only when I accepted the crisis situation I was going through and also accepting my part in all that was happening to me that I could truly see changes in, and around me. The process of Grip, Grapple and Grow through the three strategies of story, poetry and ritual, to deal with life crisis are very appropriate with dealing with my life crisis of divorce.)
To Get a Grip:
I remember spending days and nights at my mum’s house, praying, reading the bible and listening to testimonies of other people that survived over the years with similar experiences as my life crisis. There were times I felt sorry for myself and blamed everybody else including my ex-wife, but that made me more depressed. One day I stood over the free way and watched the cars speed along, I realised that I had to make a decision. I had to get a GRIP of myself in order to grapple with my life crisis.
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Grapple:
There were times that I thought nobody really cares, I thought that I was being punished for my sins and that God was dealing with me through this life crisis. I learned that there are life skills that you can only learn through the school of life experiences. I bargained with God to take me out of the crisis, instead I learned to grapple my way through the life crisis of my divorce. I also learned that I had to search within myself first, before I could search the bible for answers. I remember a Life changing experience which I had on 6 November1997 at 5:30 am, I awoke to a sound from a voice in my ear saying “Change comes from within, change comes from within.” I was even more confused at first, I had to grapple with the source of these words, my wife was still asleep and there was nobody else in the house at that time, I received the message anyway and as I made changes from within myself, I noticed the crisis started to become more bearable.
Grow:
The prescribed book describes growing as: “to nurture, shed and renew”. (Pg49).
Nurture: I found that focusing on what I have, rather than on what I had lost, I could now build on my gifts and experiences of life and grow healthy by exercising, eating well and spending time with positive people.
Shedding: When I left my hometown, leaving behind familiar, hurtful memories, I found that I had made new memories and new friends in my new hometown. I am reminded of the analogy of the snake that sheds its skin in order to grow longer; we too have to shed a new “skins” from our past that have become “obstacles that are obsolete.”
Renewing: Starting a life in a new town, a new career, with new friends in a totally new community, can be a lonely experience, as I began to add more value to my new found life , I tried not to make the same mistakes from the past, especially with my new wife, teaching career, my children and my friends. It was eventually an exciting experience that built up my faith in God and the bible.
Reading the bible stories of Job and even the Apostle Paul, who once persecuted the Christians, and eventually became an Apostle to the very Gentile churches that he persecuted, gave me hope, reading the poetry books of the bible like Proverbs and Psalms gave me much needed inspiration to grapple with my life crisis, the rituals that I performed by fasting and praying regularly, while attending church has built up my faith and helped me grow up and out of my life crisis of divorce.
QUESTION THREE STUDENT NO: 5409195
“Remembering” is sometimes the bibles own term for recalling the past (Deut 32:7) “Remember the old days” (Mark Smith 2004: 131 – 138). The bible is a treasure box full of stories of the “recalled past,” ordinary people, priests, nations and kings all had to cope with some crisis in their lives. Their stories and restories give us today a frame of reference of success and failure, loss and hope, happiness and meaning. The techniques of restoring the restoried Exodus account, the historical purpose of the Genesis account and the discussion on the lamentation 4 poems, has given me a clear
understanding to these rich ancient texts. I read them now with new found respect which the authors who wrote them deserve.
Armed with this background knowledge of how and why individuals and communities told their stories and restoried their foundation stories, I am able to adopt and re-live some of these ancient stories and find a richer understanding for my life crisis and maybe also help someone else. Brevard Child (1962: 85) “We do not have in the Old Testament an original event, what we have are various witnesses to an event”. Even the experiences that were not storied in the “cultural amnesia” as Harvard psychologist Daniel Schachter (2001 : 88) says, need not be regarded as a short coming, but there is an adaptive advantage to “forgetting”, there is a divine orchestration of stories, whether recalled or restoried, of the Ancient Israel to impact the present (time of reading the story). Today Jewish families continue the legacy of these ancient stories, passing them down from generation to generation in obedience to the bible. In doing so they practice the three strategies of dealing with life crisis, namely: stories, poems and rituals, here lies one formula we all can use in dealing with a life crisis.
The three Ancient Israelite stories that were restoried are the Exodus story. Genesis 1 and Lamentation 4. These ancient texts are still relevant to those who stand within the Jewish and Christian traditions and even within the Western cultures. These explorations provide me with insights into ways of dealing with my life crisis. I recommend them to others that are dealing with their own life crisis.
The Exodus Story: (Moses and Sinai story) W. Lee Humphries (1990: 33 – 42, 60, etc) structures the complex history of the exodus story by focusing on three historical crisis which effected the city of Jerusalem. Firstly, the capture of the older Canaanite city of Jerusalem by king David. Secondly, the destruction and capture of Jerusalem (598 – 587 BCE)
Thirdly, when the province of Judea rebelled against the Roman masters in 66 -70, during which time Jerusalem was captured again and destroyed. The three crises shattered even religious traditions of people, leaving them without their own homes, land, culture and temple to worship. The Exodus foundation story and first and second revision of these stories, being the remembered past, resulted in radical transformation in socio-political and economic structures and these sacred stories retold now gave these structures a “Life boost” to its religious foundation. The foundation exodus story gave a serious message to those who were oppressed and those who were the oppressors. A story of deliverance and complete trust and reliance on Gods favour and protection, but they could not come to grips with the
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knowledge that their God could let them down by a foreign invasion to destroy His temple and take His people into exile. They had to rewrite their theology and songs “how can we sing the lords songs in a strange land”. The first revision of the foundation story of the exodus, with its unique characteristics, featured Moses more prominently as a prophet, perhaps they were looking for a “saviour”. God worked through Moses the person in this revision, while in the foundation story God worked through nature. This first revision leaves a number of questions of guilt to the rulers who suppressed the powerless people. The final revision of the exodus story was retold in favour of the celebration of Gods power by delivering his people.
There are some life lessons that I have drawn from this ancient story in dealing with our own South African content of pre apartheid years of 1994. My university days were spent during the time when political parties were canvassing campus students to join the resistance struggle to liberate the oppressed non-white people of South Africa. I became a victim of my circumstance, although I lived five doors away from the college, I was asked by the then national department of education to go to Johannesburg over six hundred kilometres from my home, a plea not to leave my sick Dad went on deaf ears. I was devastated as my dreams towards my teaching degree were shattered. How could I “sing the Lords Songs” when the political climate of South Africa changed by our modern day (Moses) Madiba, the South African spirit “sang a new song” “Nkosi Sekele Africa”. The South African history books were restoried, God was our liberator, and we had freedom to live, study and worship in places of our own choice.
I can identify with the lyrics of “Go down Moses” (TuTu 2004: 84 – 86) “Let my people go”. Today, is speak of the new song of change, hope and courage a “Rainbow Nation Story”
The Genesis 1
To find our purpose in life we ask fundamental questions like whom? What? When? Where? Why? How? In mans search for the origin of existence, there are many scientific theories which tries to answer the question of creation, age of the earth and evolution. The bible account of creation in Genesis 1 has been used to pursue answers to the creation of the earth.
I found this prescribed book most enlightening when the authors gave the readers some historical background as to why Genesis 1 was written. Genesis 1 was created by priestly writers to the exiled Israelites in Babylon after the capture by the Babylonians in 586 BC. The Babylon creation myth which portraits Marduk in their story of creation. To the Israelite mind, this god Maruk seems to have conquered their God of Israel.
The creation story of Genesis 1 was written by the priest to build up their faith in this God of Israel, who does not need to fight to create, but He just speaks the word and is able to create. Babylon gods had to be pleased by offering them sacrifices. The God of Israel who cares for His people pleases them by giving them a day of rest. The structure of Genesis 1 as pointed out to us by James A. Loader (1983) it has a well planned flow of thoughts of six units of creation and one unit of rest. Westermann (1972) argues that Genesis 1 according traditional interpretations from the time of the church fathers is of an historical approach. The fact that the historical rewards in Deuteronomy shows that Genesis 1 cannot be handled as being history. Natural sciences and the quest to prove the age of the earth further brings the Genesis story under scrutiny.
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Ferdinand Deist further gives us the idea that Genesis 1 story was a reaction to the Babylonian creation story called the Enuma Elish (which tells of Babylonian gods first in the creation story of heaven and earth) Genesis 1 was written at a time when the Israelites were losing faith because of their great loss and the Genesis story gives them hope and of a new beginning by a God that is still in control and creates without a fight and also gives them rest to enjoy His blessings. The myths of the Babylon creation stories are not believed in this age. The debate about the age of the earth continues in scientific circles, as to whether the earth was created in seven days or millions of years ago. In order for us to understand the bible account of creation in genesis 1 the reader has to be true to the intended meaning of the writers. Genesis 1 was written after the destruction of Jerusalem, people grappled with the loss of everything they owned and their faith was being tested so too, was the faith of the priests who having grappled with their loss in their crisis situation gave the people hope in the God of Israel to grow into the mindset of new beginnings, hope and with the Sabbath being the legacy of their story of hope. Christians reinterpreted this story history and legacy by accepting of a new creation story in the life and death of Jesus Christ with the restoring leading to Sunday worship being their ritual.
My personal loss through my own crisis, monetary, time, relationship, delays in achievements also places me in a similar situation of loss as the Israelites, when I study the Genesis 1 account of creation armed with this knowledge of its origin, I can now also receive this new hope and strengthen my faith in the God of Israel, who does enter into a fight but rather offers me rest from all my crisis baggage’s and restores with His creative power all that I have lost and more, I now can rest in my past crisis situation, orientated and empowered to face the next life crisis.
Lamentations 4
This book is also a reaction to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC, by the Babylonians. Many women and children died and priests were murdered in the temple, some were left among the ruins while others were taken captive to Babylon. The writings of the poems of lamentations were an attempt to help the people get a grip on all that they experienced in the life crisis of the loss of their families, homes, places of worship and their sense of identity.
In the various academic discussions of the lamentation 4 poem, the commentary by Dianne Bergant is relevant to my own personal crisis. Patrick D Miller (2003: 9) in his forward to the commentary
believes that contempory communities of faith and even other readers of the Old Testament can continue to find meaningful instructions, as long as they engage the text with the critical and intellectual faculties that is freely available to us, attending to them as a theological and ethical analysis. Lamentation 4: 21 -22 focuses on two aspects on the human issues of life. Firstly, that humans cling to every ray of hope available, secondly justice and revenge are very closely interrelated.
Lamentation 4 reminds me of a time in my life were I felt so lonely after losing my hopes, dreams , my family, my house, money and a large part of my youth, while trying to find my purpose in life through all of my life crisis. I have also learned that suffering is a prerequisite for success and in the process of life we have to be purged to bear more fruit. I have also learned that
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God does not give everyone everything as it is evident in lamentation 4 poems. Man has to have a need, a vacuum or a void so that only God our creator can fulfil, in the mean time we have to get a grip on life, grapple through our life crisis, which is only there to make us grow.
Bibliography.
FROM NO HOPE TO NEW HOPE: The bible and life crisis, Ignatius Gous, Willie van Heerden, Unibibsa publishers, Pretoria, 2006
it was only when I accepted the crisis situation I was going through and also accepting my part in all that was happening to me that I could truly see changes in, and around me. The process of Grip, Grapple and Grow through the three strategies of story, poetry and ritual, to deal with life crisis are very appropriate with dealing with my life crisis of divorce.)