As your brother in Christ I urgently request that you
re-evaluate your following statements;
"...the Old and New Testaments do no represent prophecy and
its fulfillment..."
"...the Old Testament is not the work of God, but of men
trying to relay the message..."
2Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is inspireed by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness," RSV
The original Greek for "inspired" is "theopneustos" or
God-breathed. There is no conflict here. Have you ever
sincerely participated in Bible study? The Bible is not
prophecy? Take, for example, the books at the end of the
Old Testament. There were eleven prophets condemning Israel
for her evil, idol-worshipping ways. They were promised
Divine punishment to be followed by Divine mercy. These
eleven prophetic books were confirmed by the conquering and
enslavement of the Israelites by King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon. The wonderful books of Ezekial and Daniel were
written during the captivity and spoke of the restoration of
Israel. The three prophets after the captivity spoke ofthe
rebuilding of the temple. Of these, Zechariah, is
considered to be the most Messianic prophecy of all the Old
Testament. There were clear and precise prophecies for the
coming Messiah. In all of the Old Testament, there are over
300 prophecies that foretell the first arrival of the
Messiah.
How can you claim that the Word of God is "...but two
separate religious accounts that have been artificially
forced together...", "myths and legends"?
You wrote:
"This realization should allow you to separate your
Christian faith from your scholastic curiosity, because it
allows you to treat the historical and theological accounts
of the New Testament as separate from the accounts in the
Old Testament..."
My scholastic curiosity is enticed and encouraged by the
archeological findings of Jericho and Gomorrah. Who
Biblical naysayers once called "mythical cities".
If you are leading others astray by calling yourself a
Christian and denying the Word of God, there are horrible
and eternal considerations. You "doubt God would be
particularly angry if you took a more liberal view of the
question of Scriptural literature"?
Matthew 18:6 "but whoever causes one of these little ones
who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have
a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned
in the depth of the sea." RSV
Kevin, my words to you are brotherly accountability. While
there is discussion on the interpertation of Scripture on
this list, within the Creation/evolution debate, the denial
of God's Word is not part of it. To state that God is not
who He says He is, is the unpardonable sin according to
Jesus.
Dan Muller