Comments on: God Loves You (Better Be Afraid) http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/ The weblog of Nate Cull Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:34:05 +1300 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Nate http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-175 Nate Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:52:03 +0000 http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/#comment-175 Nada: "“Not fragile, but something like it” Do you mean sensitive?" Not sensitive so much as easily overlooked, easily misplaced. The smallness is in our sight. jaraan: "‘I don’t know who actually has that image”. Daniel does in Daniel 7.9 and 7.13 and John does in Rev.1.13-15" True, and maybe that's where the association came from: God as Judge, and judges are usually old men. Maybe it's that there's been a culture shift, and instead of age being a symbol of wisdom and power, now it's a symbol of 'not being with the times'. For whatever reason, I've never parsed these passages as meaning anything as easily dismissed as a literal 'old man in the sky' to be filed with Santa and the Easter Bunny. Monte: "Perhaps we need a way to say that while we believe all Scripture to be “God-breathed,” we can freely let Jesus Christ trump the earlier, hazier revelations of God that inspired humans wrote about (doubtless imperfectly, due to their limited perception, not an imperfect inspiration), at various times in Bible history." Perhaps. For myself, I think I view all Scripture through the lens of the Gospels, since that's where I feel I come in, not having a Jewish heritage. I guess Jesus must have worked through a lot of these questions in his youth, and presumably was familiar with the Talmud and midrash. I'd love to know what answers he came up to some of the questions which aren't specifically addressed in the Gospels, except that the general sense I get is that the specifics aren't actually important. Nada: ““Not fragile, but something like it” Do you mean sensitive?”

Not sensitive so much as easily overlooked, easily misplaced. The smallness is in our sight.

jaraan: “‘I don’t know who actually has that image”. Daniel does in Daniel 7.9 and 7.13 and John does in Rev.1.13-15″

True, and maybe that’s where the association came from: God as Judge, and judges are usually old men. Maybe it’s that there’s been a culture shift, and instead of age being a symbol of wisdom and power, now it’s a symbol of ‘not being with the times’. For whatever reason, I’ve never parsed these passages as meaning anything as easily dismissed as a literal ‘old man in the sky’ to be filed with Santa and the Easter Bunny.

Monte: “Perhaps we need a way to say that while we believe all Scripture to be “God-breathed,” we can freely let Jesus Christ trump the earlier, hazier revelations of God that inspired humans wrote about (doubtless imperfectly, due to their limited perception, not an imperfect inspiration), at various times in Bible history.”

Perhaps. For myself, I think I view all Scripture through the lens of the Gospels, since that’s where I feel I come in, not having a Jewish heritage. I guess Jesus must have worked through a lot of these questions in his youth, and presumably was familiar with the Talmud and midrash. I’d love to know what answers he came up to some of the questions which aren’t specifically addressed in the Gospels, except that the general sense I get is that the specifics aren’t actually important.

]]> By: jaraan http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-173 jaraan Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:08:07 +0000 http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/#comment-173 To Monte: If these revelations were written about "imperfectly, due to limited perception", would they have been worth all the trouble, that Jewish scribes went through for centuries to make sure that not one jot or tittle get lost? It does not look like Jesus Himself had any reservations about the scriptures. To Monte: If these revelations were written about “imperfectly, due to limited perception”, would they have been worth all the trouble, that Jewish scribes went through for centuries to make sure that not one jot or tittle get lost? It does not look like Jesus Himself had any reservations about the scriptures.

]]> By: Monte http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-172 Monte Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:12:22 +0000 http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/#comment-172 Wow, this post glows with emotions I feel! Sometimes I wonder if we have been trapped by the inerrancy wars into an understanding of Scripture that forces us into these boxes. Since we are duty-bound to affirm that all the Bible is equally true, we still do have an Old Testament God whose "wrath flares up in a moment," and whose enduring mercy is one among many almost oxymoronic characteristics. It leads us to hold Jesus ("the perfect representation of God") in suspicion, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Perhaps we need a way to say that while we believe all Scripture to be "God-breathed," we can freely let Jesus Christ trump the earlier, hazier revelations of God that inspired humans wrote about (doubtless imperfectly, due to their limited perception, not an imperfect inspiration), at various times in Bible history. Wow, this post glows with emotions I feel!
Sometimes I wonder if we have been trapped by the inerrancy wars into an understanding of Scripture that forces us into these boxes. Since we are duty-bound to affirm that all the Bible is equally true, we still do have an Old Testament God whose “wrath flares up in a moment,” and whose enduring mercy is one among many almost oxymoronic characteristics.
It leads us to hold Jesus (“the perfect representation of God”) in suspicion, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Perhaps we need a way to say that while we believe all Scripture to be “God-breathed,” we can freely let Jesus Christ trump the earlier, hazier revelations of God that inspired humans wrote about (doubtless imperfectly, due to their limited perception, not an imperfect inspiration), at various times in Bible history.

]]> By: jaraan http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-170 jaraan Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:39:33 +0000 http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/#comment-170 'I don't know who actually has that image". Daniel does in Daniel 7.9 and 7.13 and John does in Rev.1.13-15 ‘I don’t know who actually has that image”. Daniel does in Daniel 7.9 and 7.13 and John does in Rev.1.13-15

]]> By: Nada http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/comment-page-1/#comment-169 Nada Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:44:05 +0000 http://natecull.org/wordpress/2007/10/01/god-loves-you-better-be-afraid/#comment-169 "Not fragile, but something like it" Do you mean sensitive? “Not fragile, but something like it” Do you mean sensitive?

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