I've been a bit reticent about weighing in on this important topic
because an adequate statement could become very lengthy. I'll try to condense
it in thesis form & will expand only if requested &/or
challenged.
A) God's fundamental revelation is God's action in history culminating
in Christ. Scripture is the indispensable witness to that revelation but is not
in itself that primary revelation.
B) One can hold that God told Israel to do things like exterminate
populations of some conquered cities without believing that we are commanded to
do such things today. In fact this has been the mainstream view of the
Christian church with respect to many aspects of the Mosaic law since the 1st
century.
C) Nevertheless, even the idea that God willed such actions in the past
is very disturbing.
D) To Burgy's options with regard to disturbing texts:
1. The OT texts are in error, at least at this point.
2. The god they describe and the God of the NT are the same,
and I'm too
slow of mind to understand this.
3. The texts are not in error, but they describe the
PERCEIVED commands of
God by the persons writing.
a 4th should be added: These texts can be read allegorically. E.g., commands
to exterminate unbelievers really mean that we should get rid of fleshly lusts
&c. I am NOT recommending this interpretation but it was very widespread in
earlier centuries. (See, e.g., the Epistle of Barnabas.)
E) One must be very careful about saying that the God who commanded
extermination &c is not the Father of Christ. The danger is that one will
conclude that the OT _in toto_ is a record of a different God, & that Christ was
not sent by the creator of the world, thus cutting off Christianity from
creation & leading to a type of gnosticism.. This is not a straw man: It is
exactly what Marcion did in the 2d century.
F) If one is going to take this approach it's necessary to say
carefully that the God who was _perceived_ to command extermination &c was not
the Father of Christ. I understand this to be Burgy's view.
G) To take a different tack, if creation is fundamentally dynamic &
evolutionary, it's not surprising that the ethical sense of human beings would
also evolve. & if God limits divine action to what is within the capacity of
creatures, then ~3000 years ago God had to work with people for whom massacres,
slavery, &c were the way things were done.
H) That there is ethical advance within scripture is shown by the
progression from Gen.4:23-24 (unlimited vengeance) to Ex.21:23-24 (defined &
limited retribution) to Mt.5:38-39 (non-resistance).
I) Luther's distinction between God's "proper work" and God's "alien
work" may be helpful here.
J) The suggestion of G) above is still disturbing, but the problem it
presents is similar to that of God's creative action through natural selection.
& as with that, an adequate answer has to be sought in the cross - where God
experiences execution as a breaker of the law. (N.B. I say "an adequate answer
has to be sought ...". I am not claiming that this just makes the problem of
exterminations, slavery &c in the OT go away.)
K) How do we know that these disturbing practices are wrong &/or are
not in accord with the deepest expression of God's will? Fundamentally from the
teachings & example of Christ who is the fullest revelation of God (cf. A)).
L) An important though subtle distinction has to be made. Here I quote
Burgy from memory & I trust he'll correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that he
said in an earlier post something to the effect that the OT commands of
extermination &c are "not in accord with my moral sense as informed by Christ."
& this is somewhat risky. Of course we're always dealing with our understanding
of what the teachings & example of Christ imply, but it is in fact Christ, & not
our moral sense, which is authoritative. There are plenty of example in history
of Christians who have waged holy wars &c, following quite sincerely what they
believed to be a moral sense informed by Christ. Conversely, some Christians
might allow innocent people to suffer because they believed, on the basis of
Jesus' teachings, that _any_ resistance to evil was wrong.
M) The terms "heresy" & "heretic" are tossed around far too easily.
Christians who are always accusing those they disagree with of "heresy" are a
pain in the butt. OTOH, Christians who glory in being called "heretics" are
also tiresome. This represents a serious imbalance between "protestant
principle" and "catholic substance".
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
J Burgeson wrote:
> Robert Rogland wrote, in part:
>
> "It's time to quit lurking and help Terry Gray (I hope I'm helping) do =
> the heavy lifting."
>
> Welcome to the active users list, Robert.
>
> Robert wrote: "I am in complete agreement with Terry's recent posts ... As
> members of the ASA we all subscribe to a Statement of =
> Faith. It is quite minimal.... Nevertheless, the ASA Statement =of Faith
> does make affirmations that exclude some who profess the =Christian faith.
> One must be as orthodox as the Apostles' and Nicene =creeds. And, of
> significance for the recent exchange of postings on =Scripture, one must
> "accept the divine inspiration, trustworthiness, and =authority of the Bible
> in matters of faith and conduct." ... we have had participants on this
> list deny that the Scriptures are =inherently inspired, maintaining that
> inspiration is the work of the =Holy Spirit in speaking through the
> Scriptures to me. One recent =posting states, "I'd say that the scripture
> is reporting faithfully what =the writer PERCEIVED to be the voice of
> God-and that he was wrong." =Another contributer terms inerrancy a
> "horribly slippery word." ... views of the =Scripture are expressed which
> are not consistent with the Statement of =Faith to which we all subscribed
> when we joined the ASA.... ."
>
> Well, I'm the one "guilty" of the first examplle and while I did not say the
> second, I'd probably agree with it.
>
> A view if scripture as "inspired by God," a view which I hold, does not mean
> that all parts of scripture are of equal value, or are to be taken as
> normative. Slavery was normative in scriptural times; the scriptures which
> refer to it (many) are, while part of the inspired text, written there by
> persons as fallible as any of us, and we must use our minds to decide how
> they are to be interpreted for our day. Or, to take a more prosaic example
> -- the apostles threw lots (dice) to make an important (to them) decision
> about who was to take the place of Judas. That does not mean that practice
> is therefore enjoined upon us for our decision making. Nor does it even mean
> that the decision to choose a replacement was in God's mind!
>
> Given the obvious fact that some parts of scripture are, through copying and
> recopying, surely in error, when I find OT texts that do not, in any
> conceivable way, square with the God Jesus talked about and called "father,"
> I must conclude one of three things:
>
> 1. The OT texts are in error, at least at this point.
> 2. The god they describe and the God of the NT are the same, and I'm too
> slow of mind to understand this.
> 3. The texts are not in error, but they describe the PERCEIVED commands of
> God by the persons writing.
>
> I submit that any of the above three positions is consistent with a view
> that scripture is "God-breathed." I also submit that all three positions are
> worthy of respect and study, and that any person holding one of the three is
> "OK."
>
> My own position, BTW, is almost always that of an academic on issues like
> this; I have a personal view (#3) but see merit in #1 also and even a small
> probability that #2 could be correct.
>
> What I have seen are rather good arguments for #3, fair arguments for #1 and
> almost nothing but arm-waving (or silence) for #2. Checking a number of
> "conservative" commentaries, I was amazed to read that none spent any
> appreciable space discussing the problems. Position #2 was simply taken for
> granted. I am unwilling to go there.
>
> Robert asks: "Is it coherent to affirm the "divine inspiration,
> trustworthiness, and authority of the Bible in =
> matters of faith" and also pick and choose which parts of the Bible to =
> accept on the basis of some other criterion (e.g., one's perception of =
> what a good and loving God would say or do)?"
>
> I'd answer, of course, "yes." I'd also point out that every Christian I know
> does this. WE all "pick and choose," it is our God-given nature to do this;
> else we do not use our intellects. How many of us eat pork? How many of us
> wear clothing made of two kinds of substance? How many of us would allow our
> neighbors to murder our child because said child says bad words? Any hands
> out there? We have "picked and chosen" these parts of scripture to disobey.
>
> Robert also askes: Can one coherently affirm =the inspiration of the Bible
> and deny inerrancy? If words have any =objective meaning, the answer is
> no."
>
> I obviously disagree here. So do most Christians. The only responsible
> position to take, for someone who holds this position, is that, since the
> scriptures are demonstrably errant, they must therefore not be inspired.
> "Inerrancy in the original autographs" is a laughable copout. Even if one
> agrees, for argument's sake, that such is true, it is an assertion without
> usefulness. It also implies God was too inept to preserve His word.
>
> Robt continues: "some of =the heretical comments have been posted by ASA
> members. Does not intellectual =integrity require one to give up one's
> membership in an organization =when one no longer is in accord with its
> basic principles?"
>
> I previously agreed that I (along with all humans, past and present) are
> "heretics" in the usual meaning of the word. And I cheerfully say "yes" to
> the question posed. I re-read from time to time the ASA statements of
> principle. I see no place I am not in agreement with them. If I did, I would
> resign my 31 year membership. I make the tacit assumption that my fellow ASA
> members would do likewise.
>
> Robert concludes by writing: " I offer =these observations to stimulate
> personal reflection by all concerned. "
>
> I appreciate (really) the challenges you offered. These are serious issues,
> and like many such, are too often swept under the rug so as not to embarrass
> people. I have no reluctance to discuss them openly. And once again, I
> repeat my question, originally made to Terry -- tell me, in reasoned and
> possible academically respectable terms, the message God is telling you in
> the Psalm of infant head-bashing, in the direct commands of "god" to commit
> genocide, in the direct advice to Israelite soldiers telling them how to
> rape a captive girl-child after murdering her parents. There are other
> texts; try those three. I will give you some advice though -- don't look for
> help in the conservative commentaries.
>
> Regards
>
> Burgy (one heretic among many)
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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