Opus 2024-157: Great Nation

We are going through a time of great Jew hatred.  It is amazing that basically decent Americans are getting on board but we need to consider the overwhelming diet of distortion and lies about Israel and Hamas coming from academia and the media.  It used to be that Christians at least were in basic agreement about the Jews having a homeland because their default was the Bible not the talking heads.  

God started by promising what appears to be a political statement,

(Gen 12:2 KJV)  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Much of the former Christian position was based on a promise God gave to Israel.  There was also a detail involving the other nartions,

(Gen 12:3 KJV)  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The promise had geography involved,

(Gen 15:18 KJV)  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

One commentator I was listening to said this roughly corresponded to the kindom of Solomon.  I have heard others say it went beyond that.  The salient point is that God promised the land that is modern Israel to Israel.

The naive and ignorant ignore that.  There are others who say that Israel negated the covenant by their disobedience.  Others would say that political Israel is not synonymous with spiritual Israel.  The issue gets a bit clouded.  

As I was reading Genesis I noticed that God uses the exact same terminology with Moses that He used with Abraham, in regard to becoming a great nation.  In context, Israel had just formed the golden calf and worshiped it as a god.  Yahweh was a bit upset and was threatening to do to them what He had done to the neighbors of Noah, only without water.  

Exodus 32:10 (KJV) Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

He did not follow through.  He was speaking in his wrath.  So I don’t know what to make of that.   Is this an indication that He would reject Israel and cancel His covenant?  How does that fit in with your theology?  Keep in mind that the thinking in those days was that salvation was more national than personal.  I don’t know that God saw it that way but the people certainly did.

Is the modern nation of Israel the Israel of God or just a man made institution?  I would say that we need to err on the side of caution.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-244: Thinkers

The popular propaganda says different but, as Christians, we are to think and use our mind.  It is part of being created in the image of God. 

This is demonstrated many ways.  One example is seeing the patriarchs arguing with God.  Take the time when God was going to destroy Sodom for its sinful ways in Genesis 18.  Abraham starts to argue with God.

(Genesis 18:23 KJV)  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

He then proceeds to make a deal with God.  It starts with the hopes of finding 50 righteous in the city and Abraham bargains it down to 10.  God agrees that if there are 10 He will spare it.  Unfortunately for Sodom there were not even 10.  The point isn’t that God probably knew that when He agree.  The point is He let Abraham have his say and did not zap him for impertinence.

Then in Exodus 32 we see God planning on destroying Israel because they made the golden calf.  Moses argues Him out of it and we find this verse,

(Exodus 32:14 KJV)  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

There is a lot of give and take between the God of the Bible and His people.

Other religions have a different rational.  One reason Muslims don’t argue with Allah is that they are not allowed to.  Allah is sovereign, which Christians and Jews would agree with about YHWH, but in Islam man is not created in Allah’s image.  I don’t think there is an equivalent to the patriarchs arguing with YHWH.  Allah is above logic and fair play.  He is above justice and righteousness.  Those terms mean whatever he wants them to mean and as the line in the small print says, “Subject to change without notice.”

Eastern religions do not argue with God because he is not a person and not necessarily powerful.  The Greek Gods were powerful and personal but lacked wisdom so either it did no good to argue or it was all you did.  They were really no more wise than humans.  Contrasting these views of God with the concept of a God who is personal, powerful and wise.

Religious leaders often don’t want you to speak your mind or think for yourself.  The masses who have not developed their minds and don’t think accept this kind of leadership but real Christians can’t get by with that because God expects more.

Happy thinking.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-315, Religion and Culture: Sacred Cows and Golden Calves

What you believe effects what you do.  We all have heard about environment and heredity.  One wise man added our will and decisions.  Religion is also a powerful influence.  It molds us as people.  It also effects culture.  I already mentioned the sacred cows of India.  Since that time I was listening to a sermon by Alistair Begg and he mentioned the golden calves installed in the worship centers of the break-away Northern Kingdom of Israel.  I had either forgotten this or missed it totally.  Look at the reference.

(1 Kings 12:28-29 KJV)  Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.  And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.

Most people when they think of the “golden calf” think of Aaron making one in the wilderness.  Moses came down from Mount Sinai, saw it, and smashed the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. 

(Exodus 32:3-4 KJV)  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

So it would seem that the worship of cows was common in the ancient world.  It tried to make a place for itself in the worship of the Jews and succeeded in the Northern Kingdom.  Is it any wonder that the Jews of Jesus day had no place for the paganism of the Samaritans?

homo unius libri