: : *****
: : My friend is presently reading through the Old Testament
and is increasingly unhappy with the "God of Vengeance" which is found
on many pages. (This ties in with something Alisa recently posted) I told
my friend that one should not necessarily take these stories at face value
as it was in the interests of the writers to justify their actions by claiming
that God was the instigator of their actions. I am sure that the vanquished
ones would have given an altogether different attribution.
: : I thought of a plain example of the apparent cultural
inconsistency of the writers' view of history: in 2 Samuel ch.24 one finds
the story of David, at the incitement of the Lord, numbering the people.
Somewhat strangely, the Lord then punishes the Israelites and 70 thousand
die as a result. In 1 Chronicles ch.21 (written later after the exile in
Babylon where the Jews absorbed other ideas) the same story is recounted
only this time it is not the Lord who incites David but Satan. The 70 thousand
were still killed however.
: : I have no problem with either version, I am just
trying to show that all is not necessarily as it seems. Rick.
: #####
: Those particular vs. you pointed out does not show
a contradiction but further clarifies. In the Kings vs it states The Lord's
ANGER incites, then in the Chronicle's vs. it further clarifies that the
Lord's Anger is carried out by Satan. This proves the sovereignty of God,
not a contradiction. God uses satan in His providence of His decrees, thus
is how his anger is demonstrated here. Satan would be helpless to do anything
without God allowing Him to do so. God is sovereign, there is no contradiction
here. And God does get angry. Look at Jesus overturning the money changers
at the Temple. Anger doesn't necessarily equate evil. Haven't you ever
been justifiably angry? Like has your child ever been hurt or disobeyed
you? Was that anger bad? Don't try to make God out to be someone who never
gets angry just because you want to state that He will eventually forgive
everything. There is no reality which supports that. Sincerely :)
Tentmaker:
We must keep in mind that what we incorrectly call the
O.T. (Gen. through Malachi), deals with a people who thought they could
keep covenant with God. The whole story of Israel is to show all of us,
that we are incapable of doing so and that this is a very HARD WAY and
we will ALWAYS fail. God appears as a hard taskmaster under a God/Man covenant
because under this dispensation, God was on the outside of man and man
was trying to gain his righteousness through his own efforts. EVERYTHING,
including God becomes hard under such a scheme. God allowed this 1500 year
story to be written on the backs of the Jews to show us that man is incapable
of saving himself. Yes, many hard thing occurred during that time. God
took credit for wiping out millions. But we must remember, the God who
killed these people can also make them alive again. A doctor will use an
anesthesiologist to put the patient to sleep to make him better. God does
the same thing with death. "I kill and I make alive again." "I wound and
I heal." Unfortunately, Christianity has taught that God kills and then
He tortures them endlessly instead of resurrects them to heal them. This
has totally distorted God's plan of redemption for all mankind. Jesus is
Lord both of the dead and the living. He holds the keys to death and Hell
and He is ready to give those keys to those who know what to do with them...that
is...set the prisoners free. All of creation is groaning for a people like
this...who know what to do with the keys....set creation free from its
bondage to corruption. Hallelujah!!!
Tentmaker
BACK - Newer
Posts - Spirit
of the Word -
Covenant
Eschatology - Introductory
Note - New Stuff
