Today’s reading: Word Study “Pretend” NIV
SCRIPTURE
“As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them.” - Genesis 42:7 NIV
“12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13 So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. 14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me?” - 1 Samuel 21:12-14 NIV
“1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. 2 So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don’t use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead. 3 Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth.” -2 Samuel 14:1-3 NIV
“One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” -Proverbs 13:7 NIV
“Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.” - Luke 20:20 NIV
“In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow.” - Acts 27:30 NIV
OBSERVATION
Is pretending right, wrong, or indifferent? Is pretending different than dreaming? Through-out my childhood society attempted to install in me that “pretending” was something permissible but someone that one should “grow out” of - aka? “Pretending” was deemed socially unacceptable. However, in my personal attempts to define word / concept - I frequently found it’s definition coming up alongside “one’s dreams / aspirations.”
Okay, let’s go Wiktionary (Wikipedia’s dictionary). Pretending, is the act of imagining; make-believe.
Let’s keep digging. The root word, “pretend” is from Anglo-Norman pretendre, Middle French pretendre (French prétendre (“to claim, demand”), from Latin praetendere, present active infinitive of praetendō (“put forward, hold out, pretend”), from prae- (“pre-”) + tendō (“stretch”).
To pretend may be presented as,
To claim, allege, especially when falsely or as a form of deliberate deception. [from 14th c.]
To feign, affect (a state, quality etc.). [from 15th c.]
To lay claim to (an ability, status, advantage etc.). [from 15th c.]
To make oneself appear to do or be doing something; to engage in make-believe.
Why would people “pretend”? Why would God direct people to “pretend”? What’s the difference in Tekoa pretending (2 Samuel 14:1-3 NIV) and total deceit? If David wouldn’t have “pretended” to be insane [deceiving his enemy] would he still have become a King (1 Samuel 21:12-14 NIV)? Because of the past pain Joseph’s brothers cased him, he “pretended” to be a stranger to them and spoke harshly. So, then is “pretending” a tool used to physically and emotional protected us? (Genesis 42:7 NIV)
History is filled individuals the “pretenders” some have done a tremendous amount of harm while others have accomplished a immense amount of good.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
In November 1932 (before the Nazi takeover), there had been an election for presbyters and synodals (church officials) of the German Landeskirche (Protestant established churches). This election was marked by a struggle within the Old-Prussian Union Evangelical Church between the nationalistic German Christian movement and Young Reformers — a struggle which threatened to explode into schism.
Hitler now unconstitutionally imposed new church elections in July 1933. Bonhoeffer put all his efforts into the election, campaigning for the selection of independent, non-Nazi officials.
Despite Bonhoeffer's efforts, in the rigged July election an overwhelming majority of key church positions went to Nazi-supported German Christians.[13] The German Christians won a majority in the general synod of the Old-Prussian Union Evangelical Church and all its provincial synods except Westphalia, and in synods of all other Protestant church bodies, except for the Lutheran churches of Bavaria, Hanover, and Württemberg. These bodies the opposition regarded as uncorrupted "intact churches", as opposed to the other so-called "destroyed churches".
In opposition to Nazification, Bonhoeffer urged an interdict upon all pastoral services (baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc.), but Karl Barth and others advised against such a radical proposal.[14] In August 1933, Bonhoeffer and Hermann Sasse were deputized by opposition church leaders to draft the Bethel Confession, a new statement of faith in opposition to the German Christians. Notable for affirming God's faithfulness to Jews as His chosen people, the Bethel Confession was however so watered down to make it more palatable that later Bonhoeffer himself refused to sign it. In September 1933, Bonhoeffer and his colleague Martin Niemöller helped form the Pfarrernotbund — a forerunner to the Confessing Church that was to be organized in May 1934 at Barmen in opposition to the German Christians.[15]
Although not large, the Confessing Church did represent a major source of Christian opposition to the Nazi government. The Barmen Declaration, drafted by Barth and adopted by the Confessing Church, insisted that Christ, not the Führer, was the head of the church.
For a year and a half, Bonhoeffer was imprisoned at Tegel military prison awaiting trial. There he continued his work in religious outreach among his fellow prisoners and guards. Sympathetic guards helped smuggle his letters out of prison to Eberhard Bethge and others, and these uncensored letters were posthumously published in Letters and Papers from Prison. A guard named Corporal Knobloch even offered to help him escape from the prison and "disappear" with him, and plans were made for that end. But Bonhoeffer declined it fearing Nazi retribution on his family, especially his brother Klaus and brother-in-law who were also imprisoned.[28]
After the failure of the July 20 Plot on Hitler's life in 1944 and the discovery in September 1944 of secret Abwehr documents relating to the conspiracy, Bonhoeffer's connection with the conspirators was discovered. He was transferred from the military prison in Berlin Tegel, where he had been held for 18 months, to the detention cellar of the house prison of the Reich Security Head Office, the Gestapo's high-security prison. In February 1945, he was secretly moved to Buchenwald concentration camp, and finally to Flossenbürg concentration camp.[29]
On April 4, 1945, the diaries of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, were discovered, and in a rage upon reading them, Hitler ordered that the Abwehr conspirators be destroyed.[30] Bonhoeffer was led away just as he concluded his final Sunday service and asked an English prisoner Payne Best to remember him to Bishop George Bell of Chichester if he should ever reach his home: "This is the end — for me the beginning of life."[31]
Bonhoeffer was condemned to death on April 8, 1945, by SS judge Otto Thorbeck at a drumhead court-martial without witnesses, records of proceedings or a defence in Flossenbürg concentration camp.[32] He was executed there by hanging at dawn on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before soldiers from the United States 90th and 97th Infantry Divisions liberated the camp,[33][34] three weeks before the Soviet capture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany. Like other executions associated with the July 20 Plot, the execution was particularly brutal. Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothing and led naked into the execution yard, where he was hanged with thin wire for death by strangulation. Hanged with Bonhoeffer were fellow conspirators Admiral Wilhelm Canaris; Canaris' deputy General Hans Oster; military jurist General Karl Sack; General Friedrich von Rabenau;[35] businessman Theodor Strünck; and German resistance fighter Ludwig Gehre. Bonhoeffer's brother, Klaus Bonhoeffer, and his brothers-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi and Rüdiger Schleicher were executed elsewhere later in the month.
The camp doctor who witnessed the execution wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”[31]
Did you get that!!!??!!
Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor who was involved in plans to assassinate Adolf Hitler! Was Bonhoeffer “pretending” to be a pastor or was he an assassin? Can an individual be both? How does this line up biblically Old and New Testament? How did Bonhoeffer process this?
APPLICATION
To pretend or to deceive - Is it wrong or okay? Does it depend upon the circumstances? In other words is “pretending” okay? If yes, when is it permissible and when is it NOT? When does “deceiving” / “pretending” cross over to “logical” justification - and at what point does that become wrong? Does this seem difficult to anyone else? The fact remains that many esteemed people within the bible and through-out history have not been one hundred percent (100%) upfront all the time. Where does “pretending” cross the line of “trust”? I’m sure Jesus’ initial response to all my questions is one of Him gently chuckling and smiling as I actively wrestle out my faith (our at least that’s what I picture). Rather than grumbling, arguing, or getting frustrated, I’m choosing to move forward in my relationship with Jesus as I question many socially / biblically imposed concepts.
PRAYER
Lord, I praise you for your power and goodness to those that walk in faith. I ask that you would help me to listen and obey that I might grow in my knowledge and love of you. Help me continue to to step out in faith as I hold fast to You in the midst of reality. - Trevor
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