Category: Christian Social Witness

Giving up on God

Today we hearken to the cries of family and the hearts of souls seeking lost meaning not only for the lives of dead (or nearly dead) loved ones, but also crying out for meaning to their own lives. We were born connected to the souls of a family and lament at the loss of any. But crying out to another, pleaing to ‘some One,’ differs from the self-talk of the meaningless question of yesterday’s obituary.

Yesterday we began this series with a question in song, “Is that all there is? in Obituary: Soul-searching men & women of Dust. We recalled a sweet life which seemed to come up short and introduced the philosophy behind a most famous song where we discovered that these singers and entertainers were part of an extended family with a resolve to pursue life ‘MY WAY.’

I also suggested your study of an important 20th century philosopher who famously addressed ‘Man’s search for meaning.’ His personal history was well known due to his observations of so many facing death in a concentration camp. Yes, even Frankl discovered that faith in God provides a light of hope in matters of life and death.

Today’s musical questions

“Is anybody out there? … Does anybody care?”

What is the difference between the lyrics of these two questioner and the lyrics of yesterday’s post? (Is that all there is?)

God. Stated differently, the faith of the questioner expressed in song.

What do these lives mean?

Today’s philosophical question points back to the 20th century. The life and philosophy of Frankl (1905-1997) was grounded in the Great Depression and two World Wars of the 20th century. It is also rooted in Judaism and belief in the Lord God.

• 1905 – Viktor Emil Frankl is born in Vienna
• 1914-1918 – WWI – Frankl children sometimes had to beg for food
• Roaring 20’s, until 1929; then the ‘Great Depression’
• 1933 – Lillie Klot (stage name: Georgia Brown) born in London, England; Jerome Leiber & Mike Stoller (Is that all there is?) born in US
• 1940 – Lillie, daughter of Mark and Annie Klot, East European Jewish immigrants, attended school during the London Blitz
• 1940’s Viktor Frankl survives Nazi concentration camps as many family members perish before liberation by the Americans

You may have memorialized a few sad biographies of lives cut short in these times. But believe me, as these two songs of today’s post point out God sees lives cut short in these last days of this 21st century as well.

Family of God

Is it significant that Frankl and other Jews survived with a higher focus from Scripture ingrained in their memories?

Scripture instructs the chosen family of God to teach the generations about the Lord. In a follow-up to today’s post we will glance further back into Jewish history from a lesson from the Holy Scripture (of the Old Testament).

The question today is:

What do I do when a loved one from MY FAMILY goes against the Lord God?

And the music playing out in my head:

Is it a haunting melody of melancholy or perhaps some song which draws your heart to the Messiah of Israel and light of the love of Christ Jesus?

Original talkofJesus.com post

Is that all there is (for my family)?

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Stay tuned from more Summer of 2021 Reruns from talkofJESUS.com

(ditto: Summer 2022 – more to come)