Today's Reading
2 Kings: after generations of fighting other enemies, the Jews began war with each other. What a sad testimony. Yet, God gave both Israel and Judah strength to keep them alive, according to His promise.
Acts: I love how Apollos was eloquent as a teacher, but humble enough to learn God's ways more clearly. After Paul left Corinth, Apollos stayed and the church kept growing. In 1 Corinthians, Paul rebuked the church for developing factions: "I am of Paul" or "I am of Apollos."
You might wonder about the presence of so many outward signs of the work of the Holy Spirit. Those things can be common, especially where God is giving the Gospel a foothold in pagan places. The emphasis, though, is always on the Gospel and not on the signs.
Psalms: may you and I acknowledge the Lord as our helper today. May we walk with Him and let Him use us in His work!
Proverbs: I want to be like Apollos (above) -- open to correction and not like the fools described here today.
What do you see?
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In reading today's Chapters of 2 Kings, 14:5 & 6, (Message)a statement is made about we each pay personally for our sins yet we've noticed reading 1 & 2 Kings and prior books of the Bibles in the Old Testament, that GOD keeps saying that if a ruler messes up that I won't punish THAT particular ruler but WILL punish his successors. This just seems like a contradiction of God's promises to us. Also, in the Message version, the Bible keeps referring to 'Sex-and-religion shrines'. What are those exactly? Houses of ill-rupute?
ReplyDeleteGreat questions, M & ME! One at a time, here goes...
ReplyDeleteFirst, the command to punish the wrongdoer for his own sins is given to humans who are meting out human punishment. God says in Exodus 20:5 and other places the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons to the third and fourth generation. I think this means that the the influence of the parents is passed along to their children, who pass it along, etc. God is talking about one of the natural consequences of our sins, whereas He instructs us, as humans, to restrict punishment to those who do the wrong.
Your second question relates to the pagan worship was was prevalent at that in history (other times, too!). They were an agricultural society who desperately wanted the blessing of fertility upon themselves and their land. They fell into the trap of calling upon false deities who allegedly would give them fertility. Their worship rites included sexual immorality -- the women with the pagan priests and the men with temple prostitutes. They also included child sacrifice. The firstborn son would be sacrificed on an altar of a pagan temple; the parents would then immediately have sex with priest or prostitute, and the family believed they were pleasing a god who would bless them with future fertility.
Yes, I know it's hard to believe. But true.