From: John W Burgeson (jwburgeson@juno.com)
Date: Mon Sep 15 2003 - 18:31:13 EDT
I had written: "...it is pretty clear that while no instance of God
"telling a lie" is generally accepted in scripture, at least some
instances of him expressly telling someone else to tell a partial truth
with the intent to mislead exist. I refer to what God told Moses to tell
Pharaoh. He told Moses to tell Pharaoh only that the tribe wished to go
out to the desert "to worship," with the clear implication that Pharaoh
would not grasp the fact that the tribe was planning a total escape
'
Sheila answered: "God did not tell a partial lie to the Pharaoh of Egypt
in order for the Israelites to escape."
True. I did not say that.
"God did tell Moses to ask the Pharaoh for three days off so they could
worship their God knowing that Pharaoh would never grant the time."
Here is the rub. The clear intent was for the tribe to escape, not merely
to take 3 days off.
"Pharaoh's heart was hardened by God."
Only after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart, of course.
"The intent was not to give the Israelites the opportunity to escape but
rather to show the Israelites and the world the true power of God."
What verses can you cite to support this claim?
" Almighty God does not need to trick people, including pharoahs, so that
people can escape."
The question, of course, is not "does He NEED to," for obviously He does
not need to. The question is did He instruct Moses to do so? It seems
hard to argue that he did not.
It is commendable, of course, to attribute to God those qualities which
seem to one to be morally correct. My suggestion was simply to point out
that just because I may think something morally correct does not make it
so. God's ways are infinitely beyond ours, and that statement must apply
to ethics and morality as much as anything.
Burgy
www.burgy.50megs.com
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