Exodus. What a picture of God's holiness! First, Moses alone (later, with Aaron) could go up on the mountain. The people were unholy and would be destroyed if they went. Then there were the commandments themselves. I like things simple and love it that Jesus boiled them down to two: love God supremely and love your neighbor as yourself.
How about the chapter on the treatment of slaves? That's a stretch for us, because we can't imagine such a culture. Slavery, however, was part of the human condition for most of history. Thank God that He has opened our eyes about this issue!
Why don't you think God opened their eyes about slavery back then? Why couldn't that "human condition" be broken then? It's all so absurd-sounding.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I can answer you in a way that you will find acceptable. However, I believe that "survival of the fittest" played a much more dominant role in ancient societies (still does in some parts of the world). The idea that some people would dominate over others was accepted and built into the culture. The Bible is replete with examples of how to live as a slave, but says little about breaking out of slavery. At the same time, remember that it was Christians like William Wilberforce whom God used to open our eyes about the atrocity of slavery.
ReplyDeleteThat's a perfectly acceptable answer, Sam. I know I'm mostly going to be asking the difficult/non-answerable questions so all I'm expecting is if you happen to have some light to shed, you will. Otherwise, I don't expect everything to have a clear-cut answer. I really appreciate what you're doing here. LOVE you!
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