Glenn, I apologize if you have offered this explanation before on the ASA
list and I missed it. All I remember you offering when this was brought
up before was saying you didn't want to deal with it, or in one case
hypothesizing that maybe the Good Samaritan story was a real historical
happening (presumably freeing Jesus from being a liar).
Glenn has a fair point; the two cases are not completely the same. But
the Good Samaritan is not irrelevant, either. It at least establishes
that God uses means other than simple history to make a point under some
circumstances. This at least should allow one to consider that it
*might* be OK for God to use such means under some other circumstances,
like in telling the Hebrews the important theological points about their
origins.
I snipped the rest of Glenn's message, but the fundamental disagreement
here is about what would make God a liar. Is it a "lie" for God to
accommodate his revelation of truth (where the message God is trying to
convey is not one of science or detailed history) to the limited (and
maybe even mistaken) understanding of his audience on such peripheral issues?
We have gone round and round on that one already (particularly Glenn with
George M. and Paul S.), so I doubt another cycle would be productive.
But perhaps it will be helpful to recognize that question of what our
standards are for God's revelation to be true and trustworthy as the core
of these disagreements.
And perhaps the problem is judging these things by "our standards" --
maybe instead of forcing God to abide by human standards about how we
think his revelation should be, we should embrace his revelation as it
actually is (to whatever incomplete extent we can put our human
prejudices aside in looking at it) and let God set the standards for how
he is allowed to communicate.
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| Dr. Allan H. Harvey | aharvey@boulder.nist.gov |
| Physical and Chemical Properties Division | "Don't blame the |
| National Institute of Standards & Technology | government for what I |
| 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 | say, or vice versa." |
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