To the Van Tills, Andrews, Murphys, Starkjas, Browns, and the Mortons...
Thank you for your responses. For newcomers the discussion was on
Biblical evidence which held that death on Earth began at the moment of
Adam and Eve's sin.
Some of you focused on details (e.g. the difference in the meaning of
'good' and 'perfect') while others commented from broader bases.
However, one important thing to note is that when a discussion centers
on the Creator God and the Bible, such as was the case here, the
participants inevitably rally under one of two possible positions: the
Bible is God-inspired and speaks the Truth, or, the Bible is flawed and
just waiting to be re-interpreted and maybe even re-written or just
plain discarded. Most of you fell in the second group with one thing in
common: that of not having a global view of the Bible. You are fairly
adept at fishing out verses here and there which appear to support your
views, but the understanding that comes from having a complete picture
is just not present. Whether your attitude toward the Bible is to learn
from it what God is telling you personally, or, to learn how to attack
it by searching out the "flaws and contradictions", one important point
is to have the complete picture. This principle of course applies to
anything in life.
This verse-picking tendency is somewhat encouraged by the particular
presentation of the biblical text: the text is partitioned in verses
that are numbered. This can uncounsciously lead one to think that each
numbered packet of words is an isolated statement. This is absolutely
not so. I did not have time to seach it out but I remember reading in
Proverbs a verse where a statement is made in the affirmative and a few
verses later the same words are repeated...but in the negative! A
mistake? A typo? No. It's just a statement about the amazing complexity
of life.
One example of the "isolated statement" syndrome is a comment from one
of you based on Psalm 104 about God being thanked for providing prey to
the predator. Since the subject of our discussion was the death-sin
link, I was being asked the reason for the psalmist's word of thanks to
God. Thanks for allowing the predator to kill something? The Bible does
not give in to sin...but it does take it into account. But it does not
do it through accomodation and compromise. Throughout the Bible, there
are numerous examples of God "taking into account" man's fallen nature.
Some examples? What about God overlooking polygamy in the days of the
patriarchs? Was He for polygamy then? No. What about God saying to
slaves to love and serve their masters? Was He for slavery? No. What
about God asking the Israelites to eliminate by the sword certains
nations. God was for people killing people? God wanted the
Inquisition? No and No. Indeed you need the whole picture to get a
proper understanding of the Person of God and His plan for mankind and
for yourself. The Bible was never intended to be published in
loose-leaf form.
The Bible is a much more cohesive piece of litterature than most dare
admit even though it contains sixty-six books written by over 30
writers. A bit of scrutiny shows how well the first three chapters of
Genesis link solidly with the very last book, Revelations. Both books
were written about 2500 years apart.
One notable, but not unusual fact is that nobody commented on the second
half of my last paragraph which made a statement on one's understanding
of the Bible by saying: <<It just depends on how intently one listens
to the Holy Spirit who interprets Scripture. Man's little spirit acting
alone does not do too well in that area.>> You are all intelligent
people. But to understand the Bible you need more than human
intelligence alone.
Your Brother in Christ,
Guy Blanchet
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To the Van Tills, Andrews, Murphys, Starkjas, Browns, and the Mortons...
Thank you for your responses. For newcomers the discussion was on Biblical evidence which held that death on Earth began at the moment of Adam and Eve's sin.
Some of you focused on details (e.g. the difference in the meaning of 'good' and 'perfect') while others commented from broader bases. However, one important thing to note is that when a discussion centers on the Creator God and the Bible, such as was the case here, the participants inevitably rally under one of two possible positions: the Bible is God-inspired and speaks the Truth, or, the Bible is flawed and just waiting to be re-interpreted and maybe even re-written or just plain discarded. Most of you fell in the second group with one thing in common: that of not having a global view of the Bible. You are fairly adept at fishing out verses here and there which appear to support your views, but the understanding that comes from having a complete picture is just not present. Whether your attitude toward the Bible is to learn from it what God is telling you personally, or, to learn how to attack it by searching out the "flaws and contradictions", one important point is to have the complete picture. This principle of course applies to anything in life.
This verse-picking tendency is somewhat encouraged by the particular presentation of the biblical text: the text is partitioned in verses that are numbered. This can uncounsciously lead one to think that each numbered packet of words is an isolated statement. This is absolutely not so. I did not have time to seach it out but I remember reading in Proverbs a verse where a statement is made in the affirmative and a few verses later the same words are repeated...but in the negative! A mistake? A typo? No. It's just a statement about the amazing complexity of life.
One example of the "isolated statement" syndrome is a comment from one of you based on Psalm 104 about God being thanked for providing prey to the predator. Since the subject of our discussion was the death-sin link, I was being asked the reason for the psalmist's word of thanks to God. Thanks for allowing the predator to kill something? The Bible does not give in to sin...but it does take it into account. But it does not do it through accomodation and compromise. Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of God "taking into account" man's fallen nature. Some examples? What about God overlooking polygamy in the days of the patriarchs? Was He for polygamy then? No. What about God saying to slaves to love and serve their masters? Was He for slavery? No. What about God asking the Israelites to eliminate by the sword certains nations. God was for people killing people? God wanted the Inquisition? No and No. Indeed you need the whole picture to get a proper understanding of the Person of God and His plan for mankind and for yourself. The Bible was never intended to be published in loose-leaf form.
The Bible is a much more cohesive piece of litterature than most dare admit even though it contains sixty-six books written by over 30 writers. A bit of scrutiny shows how well the first three chapters of Genesis link solidly with the very last book, Revelations. Both books were written about 2500 years apart.
One notable, but not unusual fact is that nobody commented on the second
half of my last paragraph which made a statement on one's understanding
of the Bible by saying: <<It just depends on how intently one
listens to the Holy Spirit who interprets Scripture. Man's little
spirit acting alone does not do too well in that area.>> You are all intelligent
people. But to understand the Bible you need more than human intelligence
alone.
Your Brother in Christ,
Guy Blanchet --------------C76591CAB41D7335C0F401A8--