From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Dec 04 2002 - 10:52:03 EST
Howard J. Van Till wrote:
>
> George wrote:
>
> > The Bible presents a lot of its heroes "warts & all" - Abraham trading his
> wife
> > for his own safety, Jacob the swindler, David the adulterer, &c.
>There is no
> > reason to claim that these behaviors are being approved. Israel is simply
> > being honest
> > about who it is. Thus your last sentence - with its implied criticism of
> > the canonical
> > text - quite misses the point.
>
> George, I think we're on the same page on this one. My hypothetical
> interpretation was, in part, a reaction to the original post that suggested
> biblical approval for the idea "that cunning [in the form of trickery &
> theft] is favored in God's eyes."
Agreed. & I would add that even if one does understand some
behaviors to have
been approved of in the past, they are not necessarily legitimate
today. The Christian
tradition has virtually always held this to be the case with
polygamy. [Those familiar
with one of Luther's more unfortunate decisions will know why I add
the qualification!]
It's unfortunate that there has not been the same understanding with,
e.g., the concept
of the holy war.
Shalom,
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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