esther & MN
George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Wed, 18 Mar 1998 21:21:40 -0500Eureka!
For the first time in my ministry I preached tonight on a text
from Esther. There are 2 generally recognized features of this book
1) A major theme is providence - "Who knows whether you have
not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
2) The Hebrew text is quite UNreligious - there is no mention
of God, prayer, or any religious practices.
Put them all together, they spell "Methodological Naturalism" -
what happens in the world, including the preservation of Israel, can be
understood in secular terms, though there is the implicit faith that it
is the Lord who is at work in all of that.
Maybe this is why Esther is in the Bible - "Who knows whether it
has not come to the canon for such a time as this?"
George
-- George L. Murphygmurphy@imperium.nethttp://www.imperium.net/~gmurphy