If Jesus is the 'God' of the Old Testament, YHVH Had an Amazing Transformation Between the Testaments
Although it could have been better thought out
(Unless this means without question no matter the terror)
Luke 18:15-17
But back in the day...
Hebrews 11
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
I also wondered what Isaac might have said in later years when dad asked him if he wanted to get away from it all and go on a little camping trip to the mountains with him.
(I'm not sure Isaac understood it in "a manner of speaking."
Next we have Jephthah
Hebrews 11
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak,Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
And who can forget...Lot and His Daughters
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not about an entirely gay city in the Middle East. It is a hospitality tale and the way your put the fear of spying on the town into visiting strangers was to treat them like women, who as we know did not enjoy the equality and respect they have in the Western World today. The safety of "the angels" under lots protection was much more important to him than any daughter. And besides, you don't offer your daughters to whole gay crowds, which of course they were not.
As a child I wondered what breakfast the next morning must have been like at Lot's table with Mrs. Lot and the girls.
Not exactly drawing the hearts of fathers to their children...
"Ummm...Dad... Errrrr Lot.... Would you like to explain what that was all about?" I suspect Isaac had a talk with mom as well who may have had some questions about "what exactly went on up there Abe?" Mrs Jephthah must have been brain dead.
II Peter 2:
7and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),
Really? Even as that child in Sunday School and teenage catechism classes these fathers seemed deranged and undeserving of the praise they received in the New Testament but then again Middle Eastern men seem to have a different value system and it must be ok if it was in the Bible because it must be God's value system as well...we were assured.
Just sayin'
4 comments:
The Bible stories which were presented in our Methodist Sunday School classes were the ones which were on a parallel with popular childrens' books of the day. The only difference was that in the Sunday School stories, God and Jesus were involved. They centered on positives, not on punishment and destruction. They presented very positive images of the deity, the kind we'd all prefer to foster in the psyches of our children.
I suffered a great loss in Summer of 1956 on the front porch of our home. The parents read us 1975 in prophecy, completely changing our perception of God from a sort of a divine and powerful friend who wanted us to get to heaven into a very judgmental punisher, who had set up a veritable gauntlet to disqualify all but the most diligent of the members of Herbert W. Armstrong's church, aka "God's True Church". Nietzsche was on our front porch with us that day, because for us kids, at the conclusion of HWA's false prophecy book, the God we had known was indeed dead!
Sometimes when you lose something, and receive severe aversion therapy to prevent it from coming back, it is very difficult to return to a really good place where you once were. Life is like that. Somewhere along the way in the depths of it all, along came Paul McCartney with the immortal words, "Once there was a way to get back home again......" And, the thing is, "boy, you've got to carry that weight a long time", because once you've been so warped, the road is difficult to find.
BB
That was my upbringing too BB. It was a kinder gentler view but of course I had not read the other parts until I did it for myself.
I had lunch today with friends in COGWA and a great talk. But there is no going back. Not to my idealistic view of the Wonderful World Tomorrow nor to Sunday School.
I am endeavoring not to carry the experience as weight but as a growing and knowing. Otherwise it's like that tractor pull weight that says on it.."you know I'm gonna get you." and just bog me down to a dead stop
Anonymous said...
Annoying Australian accents
I'm thinking you missed the main point
Yep, Dennis, some take it as more of a "tractor pull" (adversarial) than it needs to be, and therefore lose out on even such simple things as communicating with one's parents.
Very sad, and unneeded!
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