Our friend Alceste (motto: mihi in odi est) has been noticeably absent from FU services for the last few months. His absence corresponds suspiciously with his new employment. Does anyone believe in coincidence any more? I didn't think so.
This caused me to ponder the larger question - Is gainful employment anathema to the True Churck?
In order to enable myself to answer this pressing question, I turn to the dictionary in order to figure out what "anathema" means:
anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the word is _anath(ee)ma_, once in pluralused in the Greek New Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts." In the LXX, the form _anathema_ is generally used as the rendering of the Hebrew word "herem", derived from a verb which means
(1) to consecrate or devote; and
(2) to exterminate.
Now we're getting somewhere. I've been looking for a verb that means both to consecrate and to exterminate. This is sort of like loving someone to death. That happened to my pet frog when I was a kid.
I still am left to wonder - is Alceste's absence the result of a shunning? You will note from the linked article that Jehovah's Witnesses apparently use shunning to "disfellowship" members who stray from the flock. I believe JW's "disfellowship"may be the derivation for the phrase "Don't `dis' me motherf^cker!"
Alceste, I'm not sure who is the shunner and who is the shunnee in this instance, but I think it is time to refellowship. Otherwise, I'm going to anathematize your ass.
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