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--- jn_en_2020_01_10 [2020/01/10 08:00] – potthast
+++ jn_en_2020_01_10 [2020/01/10 08:52] (current) – potthast
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-[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/jn_de_2020_01_09|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_ix|| Themen Kollektion ix ]]
+[[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/jn_de_2020_01_10|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_ix|| Themen Kollektion ix ]]
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-====== Protection and Security ... ======
+====== Protection and Companionship ... ======
-Friday, Jan 10, 2020.
+Friday, Jan 10, 2020. Humans are social beings. We all know it. We need each other and
+we cannot live without each other. We grow up in a family, and we need the nurturing and support
+to be able to live at all. For years we need our parents to feed us and to protect us.
+But it is more. Humans are relational beings. That means we define ourselves by others, which
+we take as reference. We compare ourselves to others. We live in a framework of relations to
+others. Where do you stand in a group? This includes friendship, companionship, parentship,
+but also competition, rivalry and contest.
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-**  ... **
+** Parentship and Support ... **
+Humans long for parentship. We long for a father and a mother to accompany us, to protect us, to
+support us, to love us. Children are usually admired by their parents, they are loved by their
+parents. Parents are excited about the progress of their kids. For kids the excitement of the
+parents is an important input and motivation. But more than that: kids need this support to be
+able to live. Kids need the admiration to get the push they need to develop their character and
+skills.
+Kids also need protection. We need it, since otherwise the threats and danger of this world will
+kill us. Without protection, we cannot live and grow up. We also need protection in the later
+stage of our life. And usually, societies organize their protection. It is one of the key role
+of the family in the first place, the extended family, but then the social environment, society
+as a whole, the town and state.
+When we grow up, it is an important task for us to take over responsibility ourselves. We become
+mothers and fathers ourselves. We obtain some responsibility for our social environment. We take
+part in the role to protect, to be parent and supporter for our own kids and for the younger
+and older members of our society.
 {{ 2017_02_10_2.jpg}}
-**  ... **
+** The Lord as Protector ... **
+The biblical text tell us that humans need more than just the human companionship. We need
+more than just our social relationships. We need God, the Lord, the heavenly father. To become
+fully human, humans need the heavenly father to be their father, to get into a relationship
+with him which is often called to become "a child of God".
+God wants to be our protector. He wants to be the center and relevant source and target for
+our activities. In him, there is massive freedom. In him, there is the support and admiration
+and love we desire. Partnership and support of humans and the partnership and support by the
+eternal God are complementary in the sense that we most need the Lord, and that with the Lord
+in our heart all other relationships are balanced and can fall into place.
+Protection by the Lord is a challenging topic, since it does not mean that we are completely
+free of suffering. And it is realized through and in a very concrete human environment. We can
+study the history of Israel in the Old Testament to understand more about how God acts in the
+middle of a difficult historical situation.
+Further, there is an important situation talking about protection. Matthew 4 tells us the story
+where Jesus is tempted by the devil with respect to God's protection. Let us listen to this:
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 </color> (Matthew 4, 6-7)
+God wants to be our helper, our guide, our protection. At the same time that does not mean that we
+should be inactive. He has given us a mind and a body to act, in faith and responsibility, in truth
+and love and mercy. When we ask him, he can show us wise steps which will lead to protection of our
+life as far as this is possible in the framework of a "fallen world" - keeping in mind the full
+framework of our life as we have been discussing it in the past days.
 (Roland Potthast)