{"id":3847,"date":"2024-07-22T07:07:48","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T11:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3847"},"modified":"2024-07-22T07:08:45","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T11:08:45","slug":"blessings-and-curses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/22\/blessings-and-curses\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessings and Curses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

Who\u2019s the most famous Egyptian of all time?

That would have to be a minor, inconsequential pharaoh who came to power at age nine and died at the ripe old age of 19. 

There\u2019s no indication that King Tutankhamen accomplished anything of note during his decade on the throne around 1300 B.C.

What vaulted him to superstardom was a happy accident. He was buried in a tomb whose entrance was covered by another tomb. That meant grave robbers never got a chance to plunder it.

Archeologist Howard Carter \u2013 whose rugged good looks and fedora helped inspire the character Indiana Jones \u2013 found the entrance to King Tut\u2019s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, just a few days before his financial backer, Lord Carnarvon, was going to cut off all funding.

In a scene that seemed right out of the movies, Carter broke the seal on the tomb and peered inside.

\u201cWhat do you see?\u201d asked a breathless Carnarvon, who was standing just behind him. \u201cWonderful things!\u201d replied Carter. The legendary, beautiful, and mind-boggling treasures inside the burial vault constitute perhaps the greatest archeological discovery of all time.  

They also helped inspire one of the greatest myths of the last 100 years \u2013 the so-called Curse of the Mummy\u2019s Tomb.

Some people believe that by unsealing the tomb of King Tutankhamen, Howard Carter unleashed a curse of unimaginable proportions.

What evidence do they cite? 

One year after being present at the grand opening, Lord Carnarvon died of an infection, apparently from an insect bite. At roughly the moment of his demise the lights went out in Cairo. His dog, which was back in England, began to howl and then promptly died. 

Furthermore, a local newspaper printed a curse that had allegedly been found at the entrance of the chamber: \u201cThey who enter this sacred tomb shall swift be visited by wings of death.\u201d

Suddenly mummies were hot stuff. That was certainly true in Hollywood, where moldering Egyptian monarchs routinely exacted vengeance on the living.

But in the words of Lee Corso, who seems to have been doing sports commentary since the days of Ramses II, \u201cNot so fast, my friend<\/em>.\u201d 

Is there really any evidence of a curse?

There was nothing special about the lights going out in Cairo. That still happens on a regular basis to anyone connected to the Egyptian power grid. Nor was anyone able to verify exactly when Lord Carnarvon\u2019s dog breathed its last. And the curse outside the entrance to the tomb? That was fabricated by a journalist eager to sell papers.

Reports alleging the sudden deaths of the \u201ctomb raiders\u201d have also been greatly exaggerated.    

Howard Carter, for instance, lived a full 17 years after 1922. The forensic medical examiner who did the autopsy on Tut\u2019s mummified body made it all the way to 1969. And Carnarvon\u2019s daughter, who had also been present at the opening, died in 1980 at the age of 79. 

In the words of archeologist Susan Johnston, \u201cIf there really was a curse associated with King Tut, it was a pretty lame one.\u201d

This is not to say that we ought to treat curses lightly.

People have the ability to curse other people. Now we\u2019re talking about something serious. 

To curse someone in your heart is to want them to hurt, to suffer, to lose hope. There are actually websites that sell curses. For $4.95, you can hire a professional to help you get even with someone, break up a relationship, or plunge one of your enemies into despair.

Save your money. Most of us don\u2019t need any help trying to hurt other people. We have years of experience.

That\u2019s why Romans 12:14 is such a powerful verse: \u201cBless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.\u201d 

Why in the world should we treat other people like that?

Because that\u2019s the way God treats us<\/em>. The Bible makes it clear that we all should be under God\u2019s curse for the reckless ways we have rejected his leadership. But God is not like a cinematic mummy, intent on making our lives a living hell. In a plot twist that no one saw coming, God offers us his love instead.

Having received God\u2019s blessings, we even get to pass them on to others. Free of charge. <\/em>

Which can only be described as the best Hollywood ending ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Who\u2019s the most famous Egyptian of all time? That would have to be a minor, inconsequential pharaoh who came to power at age nine and died at the ripe old age of 19.  There\u2019s no indication that King Tutankhamen accomplished anything of note during his decade on the throne around 1300… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[773,774],"class_list":["post-3847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blessings","tag-curses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3847"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3850,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions\/3850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}