Eric,
Thanks for the reply.
Your comments are certainly thought-provoking.
Indeed there is a lot of violence -- gruesome violence -- in the Bible;
sometimes proclaimed in the name of God.
I agree with your implied sentiment that there are things in the Bible
which are not worthy of our emulation.
Yet this does not alter my love of the word of God, for I do not view the
Bible and the word as synonymous. The Bible is but an instrument to get
us to hear the voice of God. That is the word. He(&she) is the
word. God is love.
In fact, you will find on my web site (under "Essays") a piece I
did in which I commented on why the sum of the number values of "HOLY
BIBLE" in all caps in ASCII code = 666. I comment that when people
place the Bible as God, i.e. infallible, they commit an act of idolatry, which
is anti-Christ. The Bible was written by men, who, though inspired, were
not infallible.
Christ is the only sure foundation upon which we can build. And the pure
love of Christ (both from him and through us toward others) is the essence of
our anchoring to that foundation.
Much of the carnage mentioned in the Bible, both in history and in
prophecy, is designed to be an object lesson about why we don't want to be
evil, hateful, spiteful, vengeful.
Agency is supreme, and part of agency is the necessary experiencing of the
consequences of our choices when we refuse to turn to God and receive a
changed heart from which flows peace, truth and love.
Another factor to bear in mind in viewing the violence portrayed in
scripture is that God give us what we ask for and what we deserve. When
his people refuse to walk in his paths, he says in essence, "Fine, have
it your way, and see what it brings you, then let's talk about doing it my
way." Off they go in their delusion, believing their wickedness to be the
will of God, when it is their own wills and wickedness in action.
God will not move his people forward faster than they are able. He
will work with them where they are at and nudge them forward at a rate they
can handle. Sometimes -- actually often -- that means letting them
backslide to learn important lessons. That is where the big paradigm
shifts take place: the collective oopses.
We're headed for a correction big time. That is why so many prophets
were obsessed with describing what they saw in the "last days," in
which day we live. It's going to get ugly. But just how ugly is purely a
function of our choice. It doesn't have to be ugly. We can choose
to repent, and the calamities that breath down our necks can be turned away.
Thanks again for your comments. I hope you can see that I am both
saying, "You're right," but also that there is more too it that what
we are usually told.
Sincerely,
Sterling D. Allan
