RE: Old Testament vs New Testament God

Bill Hamilton (hamilton@predator.cs.gmr.com)
Tue, 10 Jun 1997 15:37:16 -0400

Jim Taggart wrote:
>Scott wrote:
>>What I do take issue with is the implication that God was somehow waiting for
>>humans to "develop" to a point where they could understand Jesus' message.
>
>The minister in my church suggests that perhaps Christ came when he did
>because the world conditions were "right" for receiving his message:
>1. There were distributed nuclei around the known world who could
>understand the message in light of the Old Testament teachings [due to
>the dispersion of the Jewish people]
>2. The world was stable enough so that people could travel between
>these distributed nuclei [due to Pax Romana] so that the word COULD
>spread, and
>3. Travel was easier than it ever had been [due to Roman engineering].
>
>Christ came when he did because it was the first time in history that
>his message could reach the _whole_ world.

However, all of this took place under the sovereign direction of God. The
time was ripe because God had brought humanity to the point where the time
was ripe. This of course raises other questions, such as "_Could_ not God
have made humanity ready for Jesus sooner?" I don't claim to have an
answer, but then I'm not omniscient :-). Like Scott, I have a problem with
the idea that God is an opportunist who waits for time and chance to bring
the right conditions about. The considerations He applies in choosing how
to accomplish His purposes may not be visible to us, but that doesn't mean
they don't exist.

Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr, Ph.D. | Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems | General Motors R&D Center | Warren, MI
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