(Originally written April 30, 2007 in Book 16)
Genesis
26:1 There was a famine so Isaac went to Gerar to see Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.
26:2 The Lord told him not to go to Egypt, but to where he showed Isaac
26:3 The Lord said that he would bless him and his descendants if he stayed in the land
26:4 The Lord reiterated that he would make his descendants as numerous as the stars and that by Isaac's descendants all the nations of the earth would bless themselves.
26:5 The Lord said he would do this because Abraham obeyed his commandments and Law
26:6 Isaac dwelt then in Gerar
26:7 Isaac told then that Rebekah was his sister so that the people of Gerar would not kill him
26:8 Abimelech called to Isaac and asked why he said Rebekah was his sister. Isaac said so that no one would kill him for her.
26:10 Abimelech scolded Isaac because if some one would have laid with her it would have brought guilt on us
26:11 Abimelech warned al the people that whoever touches Isaac or Rebekah would be put to death
26:12 Isaac sewed in Gerar and reaped a hundredfold because the Lord blessed him
26:13 Isaac became very wealth
26:14 The Philistines soon envied him
26:15 The Philistines filled all of Abraham's old wells.
26:16 Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave because of his wealth and might
26:17 Isaac departed and camped in the valley of Gerar
26:18 Isaac re-dug a springing well
26:20 The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with them over the well so it was named Esek (contention)
26:21 They dug another one and the herdsmen quarreled over it as well. This is called Sitnah (Enmity)
26:22 They dug another one and the herdsmen did not quarrel over it so it was called Reho'booth
because the Lord had made room for them
26:23 From there Isaac went to Beersheba
26:24 The Lord appeared to Isaac and promised to bless him for Abraham's sake
26:25 Isaac built an altar there and pitched his tent
26:26 Abimelech went to Isaac with Ahuz'zath his adviser and Phicol
26:27 Isaac asked why he who hates him came to see him
26:28 They replied that we can see that the Lord is with you and we want to make an oath with you
26:29 They wanted to make a covenant that we will do no harm to you and you do no harm to us
26:30 Isaac prepared a feast and they all ate and drank
26:31 They woke and made the oath in the morning and Isaac sent them on their way
26:32-33 Then Isaac's servants told him that they had found water so they named the place Shibah
26:34 Esau took Judith, daughter of Be-e'ri the Hittite and Bas'emoth, daughter of Elon the Hittite for his wives when he was 40.
26:35 They made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah
27:1 When Isaac was old he called to Esau. Isaac was now blind
27:2 Isaac told Esau that he was old and did not know the day of his death
27:3 He told Esau to go and hunt game for him
27:4 He told him to bring the food to him as he loved so that he could eat and bless him
27:5 Rebekah was listening to Isaac as he told Esau this
27:6 She told Jacob about it
27:7 She told Jacob what Isaac had said
27:8 She finished telling Jacob what Isaac commanded Esau
27:9 She told Jacob to go to the flock and get two young kids so she could prepare them for Isaacthe way he liked.
27:10 She told him that Jacob could bring them to him and receive the blessing
27:11 Jacob replied that Esau was hairy and he was not
27:12 He was afraid that Isaac would curse him if he would found out
27:13 She said that she would receive the curse, but listen to her and obey
27:14 Jacob got the goats and Rebekah prepared them the way Isaac liked
27:15 Rebekah took Esau's clothes and put them on Jacob
27:16 She put the goat skins on Jacob's hands and neck
27:17 She gave Jacob the food.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Living out the Hope
(Originally Written April 29, 2007 in Book 15)
Chapter 9: Living Out the Hope
On Maintaining the value of Pi: Evangelicals and Inter religious discussions
The state of Indiana sought to change the value of pi to 3.2 from 3.1459... in 1897 to help students along. If they had succeeded (the bill never left the Senate floor) they would not have really changed the value of pi.
This illustration points out three things in regard to evangelical Christians and inter religious dialogue:
1) It is legitimate for evangelicals to have inter religious dialogue
2) Evangelicals bring strengths and weaknesses to the table
3) There is a limited scope in legitimate involvement in dialogue by evangelicals
My Personal Involvement in Inter Religious Dialogue
Inter religious dialogue is not necessary evangelical in nature.
Inter religious dialogue does not have to involve some constructed global ecumenism.
Pi is Real: Commitment to Truth
Religious dialogue needs a commitment to truth in order to thrive.
Christianity has a truth claim in the very understanding of truth.
Pi is important: Commitment to Seriousness
One cannot compromise in the assessment of exclusive salvation and truth and have a serious inter religious dialogue.
Compromising exclusive claims so not to hurt anyone's feelings makes a mockery of the entire purpose of inter religious dialogues.
Pi is Difficult: Commitment to Work and Openness
Evangelicals fail many times in these dialogues because they make one of two mistakes:
1) Comparing our best with their worst
2) Addressing caricatures of other religions not the other religions themselves
We must strive to stay away from exaggerations, distortions and cartoons of other religions.
We should compare our worst with their worst and our best with their best. We cannot compare our worst with their best and visa versa and have fair dialogue.
Pi is Virtually inexhaustible: Commitment to Humility
What I know of pi is true, but it is true only as an approximation.
Inter religious dialogue takes place between human beings. We all share humanness and humility helps our case.
The Spiritual Dimension
Not everything is infested with demons. Demons exist, but the spiritual warfare that takes place has no bearing on the ultimate outcome.
Christ's victory was the one and only decisive battle.
There are situations which are clearly demonic in nature and Christians should immediately leave these situations, but this is hardly the same as claiming all non-Christian houses of worship are demonically possessed.
Christianity provides a lifestyle free from fear. We do not have to live in fear of the devil or demons or evil.
Satan's greatest work has been achieved in the churches where "the gospel of salvation in Christ is reduced to a set of moral platitudes, the biblical picture of the sovereign Lord of the universe has been caricatured into a wimpy-whiny Casper Milque toast, and the assurance of redemption has been turned into a vague optimistic outlook" (Corduan, 232).
The Church in the Pluralistic World
Worship
Worship has been reserved nowadays for the music portion of Church.
But when music starts to take the center stage then the proclamation of the Word takes a back seat. A major problem!
The historicity of Christianity give it a strength no other religion has. It is grounded in objective hope.
The abstraction of God's characteristics in praise of them (Holiness, love, etc.) is good and has its place, but when it becomes the totality of praise (a current trend). Christianity becomes groundless in history and work like every other religion.
Attitudes
As Christians we face unnecessary temptations of the need to be liked and the need to feel disliked.
There is no real oppression of Christianity in its truest forms in the 21st Century America. Yes, there is the removal of Christian symbolism and actions from the public eye, but this is not oppression at the core of Christianity.
The real danger facing Christianity in America is not the suppression of it, but the trivialization of it. Many want to relegate Christianity to some relative preference with no objective value to it.
Truth
The Church cannot flounder on the issues of the truth of God, authority of the Bible, reality of personal sin, substitutionary atoning death of Christ, need for faith in Christ, and the expectation of Christ's return.
Evangelism is an invitation to invite people to partake of the truth. It is not:
1) an exercise to entice people to an organization
2) A campaign to see who can promise the most personal fulfillment
3) "a method of putting the Christian dish or the post modern religious cafeteria" (Corduan, 237).
Context
The Church must present the gospel in its pure and unadulterated form.
This means we must discern what is true on the basis of the Bible and separate our own cultural contextualization of it from the truth.
Contextualization does however provide the avenue of preaching and reaching the lost.
Ministering Universally
The Church must demonstrate its universality by being willing to minister universally.
God, not the religion of Christianity, should have the place of preeminence in our faith.
Fin.
Chapter 9: Living Out the Hope
On Maintaining the value of Pi: Evangelicals and Inter religious discussions
The state of Indiana sought to change the value of pi to 3.2 from 3.1459... in 1897 to help students along. If they had succeeded (the bill never left the Senate floor) they would not have really changed the value of pi.
This illustration points out three things in regard to evangelical Christians and inter religious dialogue:
1) It is legitimate for evangelicals to have inter religious dialogue
2) Evangelicals bring strengths and weaknesses to the table
3) There is a limited scope in legitimate involvement in dialogue by evangelicals
My Personal Involvement in Inter Religious Dialogue
Inter religious dialogue is not necessary evangelical in nature.
Inter religious dialogue does not have to involve some constructed global ecumenism.
Pi is Real: Commitment to Truth
Religious dialogue needs a commitment to truth in order to thrive.
Christianity has a truth claim in the very understanding of truth.
Pi is important: Commitment to Seriousness
One cannot compromise in the assessment of exclusive salvation and truth and have a serious inter religious dialogue.
Compromising exclusive claims so not to hurt anyone's feelings makes a mockery of the entire purpose of inter religious dialogues.
Pi is Difficult: Commitment to Work and Openness
Evangelicals fail many times in these dialogues because they make one of two mistakes:
1) Comparing our best with their worst
2) Addressing caricatures of other religions not the other religions themselves
We must strive to stay away from exaggerations, distortions and cartoons of other religions.
We should compare our worst with their worst and our best with their best. We cannot compare our worst with their best and visa versa and have fair dialogue.
Pi is Virtually inexhaustible: Commitment to Humility
What I know of pi is true, but it is true only as an approximation.
Inter religious dialogue takes place between human beings. We all share humanness and humility helps our case.
The Spiritual Dimension
Not everything is infested with demons. Demons exist, but the spiritual warfare that takes place has no bearing on the ultimate outcome.
Christ's victory was the one and only decisive battle.
There are situations which are clearly demonic in nature and Christians should immediately leave these situations, but this is hardly the same as claiming all non-Christian houses of worship are demonically possessed.
Christianity provides a lifestyle free from fear. We do not have to live in fear of the devil or demons or evil.
Satan's greatest work has been achieved in the churches where "the gospel of salvation in Christ is reduced to a set of moral platitudes, the biblical picture of the sovereign Lord of the universe has been caricatured into a wimpy-whiny Casper Milque toast, and the assurance of redemption has been turned into a vague optimistic outlook" (Corduan, 232).
The Church in the Pluralistic World
Worship
Worship has been reserved nowadays for the music portion of Church.
But when music starts to take the center stage then the proclamation of the Word takes a back seat. A major problem!
The historicity of Christianity give it a strength no other religion has. It is grounded in objective hope.
The abstraction of God's characteristics in praise of them (Holiness, love, etc.) is good and has its place, but when it becomes the totality of praise (a current trend). Christianity becomes groundless in history and work like every other religion.
Attitudes
As Christians we face unnecessary temptations of the need to be liked and the need to feel disliked.
There is no real oppression of Christianity in its truest forms in the 21st Century America. Yes, there is the removal of Christian symbolism and actions from the public eye, but this is not oppression at the core of Christianity.
The real danger facing Christianity in America is not the suppression of it, but the trivialization of it. Many want to relegate Christianity to some relative preference with no objective value to it.
Truth
The Church cannot flounder on the issues of the truth of God, authority of the Bible, reality of personal sin, substitutionary atoning death of Christ, need for faith in Christ, and the expectation of Christ's return.
Evangelism is an invitation to invite people to partake of the truth. It is not:
1) an exercise to entice people to an organization
2) A campaign to see who can promise the most personal fulfillment
3) "a method of putting the Christian dish or the post modern religious cafeteria" (Corduan, 237).
Context
The Church must present the gospel in its pure and unadulterated form.
This means we must discern what is true on the basis of the Bible and separate our own cultural contextualization of it from the truth.
Contextualization does however provide the avenue of preaching and reaching the lost.
Ministering Universally
The Church must demonstrate its universality by being willing to minister universally.
God, not the religion of Christianity, should have the place of preeminence in our faith.
Fin.
Fords & Bridges between religions
(Originally written April 29, 2007 in Book 15)
Chapter 8: Finding Fords and Building Bridges
How can Christianity, a set of beliefs that together forms an exclusive truth, share so many of its truths with other religions?
Finding Fords
Avoiding the Genetic Fallacy
God does not work against or apart from human psychology or culture.
As Christians, we need to accept that aspects of Christianity are a part of human culture. But this does not mean that they are not part of what God has revealed.
Sometimes God works within human culture; sometimes He works against it.
Sinkholes
Ludwig Feuerbach claimed that all alleged attributes of God are merely projections of idealized human attributes.
This understanding would provide a common ground between Christians and non-Christians, but only at the expense of the exclusive truth of Christianity. It is a sink hole.
Basic Phenomenology of Religion
Phenomenology is the study of appearances. It describes the world from the inside out; that is, it begins with human beings and their most fundamental perceptions.
Phenomenological analysis describes reality as directly experienced by the subject.
The Primordial Experience
Phenomenology aims at taking us to the most fundamental experience of a human being in a given situation - the primordial experience.
The Problem: The universality of religious experience
There is somewhere in the human noetic structure that either relates to an object of religious experience or simulates doing so.
The Key: Appearances behind appearance
Some religions are false and thus, there an be no objective reference point to the experience of their adherents.
There is a basic dimension that frequently appears to underlie religious experience.
This dimension does not say anything about the reality of the object of experience. It can manifest itself when there is a real object (Christ) or when there is a not-real object (Shiva)
This dimension leaves the possibility open to allow someone who believes in the exclusive truth of Christianity to align certain aspects of Christian experience with experience in other religions without conceding the truth of Christianity.
Rudolf Otto: The Holy
Rudolf Otto exposed the non-rational side of religion.
The rational side of religion is its objective beliefs and ethical practices.
Otto claimed that the most profound significance lie in the non-rational, the numinous side of religion: the encounter with the dimension of the Holy.
Otto calls the experience when you feel the sudden, overwhelming presence of God the Holy, the numinous and the mysterium tremendum.
The mysterium tremendum:
1) Tremendum: Indicates the experience carries with it the feeling of the awesome presence of God which reveals his purity and righteousness
2) Mysterium: Indicates that the object of this feeling is not wholly knowable
3) The experience of the mysterium tremendum includes a component of fascinosum.
Fascinosum: the alienating feeling of tremendum is concurrent with a feeling of deep love and grace. The mysterium feeling both repels and attracts at once.
While one cannot follow Otto to his conclusions and be a consistent Christian one can thank him for his enumeration of mysterium.
It seems that whenever people have a religious experience they seem to encounter the mysterium.
The mysterium is a dimension of the primordial religious experience.
Mircea Eliade: hierophanies
Hierophanies are particular segments of life or cultures that transforms it from being profane into an encounter with the sacred.
A spatial hierophant is "Holy Ground" like a shrine or a sanctuary.
Eliade claims that when cultures create a sacred sector in space they are reenacting the very creation of the world.
Eliade claims special meanings for these hierophanies:
trees - the quest for immortality
the moon - fertility and the oscillation between life and death
the sun - autonomy and sovereignty
the hero - purity and perfection
Eliade points out that the awareness of the sacred is not limited to some ill-defined encounter with the numinous. Human beings can relate to the numinous in various ways.
C.G. Jung - archetypes
Carl Gustav Jung, a swiss analytic psychologist had much to say on this topic, but it is heavily tainted by pantheism.
Jung was a student of Freud, but broke with him over the interpretation of dreams.
Jung saw Freud as too narrow in that all dreams were either obsessed with sex or death, or both. Jung saw them as a consistent array of symbolic images.
He concluded that there are basic images (archetypes) that reside in the human unconscious and manifest themselves only indirectly in dreams and art.
These archetypes are also the building blocks of religion
Jung divided the unconscious into two parts:
1) Personal and individual
2) Collective
The archetypes dwell in the collective unconscious.
There are major problems with Jung's theory. While it is true that there are recurrent themes in mythology and symbolism it is not necessary to posit a collective unconscious to justify them. These similarities are the very fundamental thought patterns that human beings have.
These archetypal patterns express themselves in primordial religious experiences.
God has revealed himself, at least partially through these archetypes, but in other religions these archetypes are embedded in false content.
Don Richardson, a missionary, claims that God has instilled in many cultures some way that facilitates the understanding of the gospel.
These ways are no substitutes for the gospel, but provide an avenue for a person of that culture to come to understand the gospel.
At the heart of all religious experience there seems to be the awareness of the numinous- the mysterium tremendous et fascinosum.
However, people do not encounter the mysterium tremendum et fascinosum in a disembodied form. They experience them in hierophanies as they are because of the archetypal images embedded in the human mind.
Christians and non-Christians have similar religious experience despite one being true and all others being false because they share the phenomenological experience of the numinous, hierophanies, archetypes and redemptive analogies.
Reenter the rational and ethical
Ronald Green makes the rational concern of religion the cornerstone by showing that religion resolves the conflict between our moral standards and our moral performance.
The religious experience of an individual is constituted by both the phenomenological dimension and the ethical/redemptive context.
Back to General Revelation
Religion does not have solely a phenomenological existence. It has its grounding in a self-disclosing God.
From Finding Fords to Building Bridges
Bridges serve many purposes:
1) Facilitation of evangelism
2) Help us to live together in a civilized society
3) Identify where and where-not common social and ethical causes can be tackled
4) Contribute to the theologian's work in explaining the universe of God's making
Bridge One: Truth
Religion is about truth. Truth is an indispensable aspect of religion.
"Inter religious dialogue is only meaningful so long as truth is an overriding concern" (Corduan, 216).
Bridge Two: Morality
Religions have different moral codes and where they overlap they do so superficially. Nonetheless this is a good bridge point.
Bridge Three: The need for the transcendent
Philosophical:
1) There is a universal need for the transcendent
2) Where there is a universal need there must be an objective way of fulfilling that need
3) Therefore, there must be a transcendent to fulfill the human need of transcendence
Theological:
1) All human beings were created with the need for fellowship with God. This need goes largely unfulfilled due to the interference of sin.
2) This is a real need.
3) Therefore, we can appeal to this need and its objective fulfillment by God in Christ.
Summary
People can have experiences that appear religious because all human beings have fundamental similarities (the Holy [Otto], the role of hierophanies [Eliade], and the subconscious patterns [Jung, Richardson])
To bridge the gap between true religious experience (Christianity) and non-true religious experiences we can use emphasis on truth, morality and the need for the transcendent.
Chapter 8: Finding Fords and Building Bridges
How can Christianity, a set of beliefs that together forms an exclusive truth, share so many of its truths with other religions?
Finding Fords
Avoiding the Genetic Fallacy
God does not work against or apart from human psychology or culture.
As Christians, we need to accept that aspects of Christianity are a part of human culture. But this does not mean that they are not part of what God has revealed.
Sometimes God works within human culture; sometimes He works against it.
Sinkholes
Ludwig Feuerbach claimed that all alleged attributes of God are merely projections of idealized human attributes.
This understanding would provide a common ground between Christians and non-Christians, but only at the expense of the exclusive truth of Christianity. It is a sink hole.
Basic Phenomenology of Religion
Phenomenology is the study of appearances. It describes the world from the inside out; that is, it begins with human beings and their most fundamental perceptions.
Phenomenological analysis describes reality as directly experienced by the subject.
The Primordial Experience
Phenomenology aims at taking us to the most fundamental experience of a human being in a given situation - the primordial experience.
The Problem: The universality of religious experience
There is somewhere in the human noetic structure that either relates to an object of religious experience or simulates doing so.
The Key: Appearances behind appearance
Some religions are false and thus, there an be no objective reference point to the experience of their adherents.
There is a basic dimension that frequently appears to underlie religious experience.
This dimension does not say anything about the reality of the object of experience. It can manifest itself when there is a real object (Christ) or when there is a not-real object (Shiva)
This dimension leaves the possibility open to allow someone who believes in the exclusive truth of Christianity to align certain aspects of Christian experience with experience in other religions without conceding the truth of Christianity.
Rudolf Otto: The Holy
Rudolf Otto exposed the non-rational side of religion.
The rational side of religion is its objective beliefs and ethical practices.
Otto claimed that the most profound significance lie in the non-rational, the numinous side of religion: the encounter with the dimension of the Holy.
Otto calls the experience when you feel the sudden, overwhelming presence of God the Holy, the numinous and the mysterium tremendum.
The mysterium tremendum:
1) Tremendum: Indicates the experience carries with it the feeling of the awesome presence of God which reveals his purity and righteousness
2) Mysterium: Indicates that the object of this feeling is not wholly knowable
3) The experience of the mysterium tremendum includes a component of fascinosum.
Fascinosum: the alienating feeling of tremendum is concurrent with a feeling of deep love and grace. The mysterium feeling both repels and attracts at once.
While one cannot follow Otto to his conclusions and be a consistent Christian one can thank him for his enumeration of mysterium.
It seems that whenever people have a religious experience they seem to encounter the mysterium.
The mysterium is a dimension of the primordial religious experience.
Mircea Eliade: hierophanies
Hierophanies are particular segments of life or cultures that transforms it from being profane into an encounter with the sacred.
A spatial hierophant is "Holy Ground" like a shrine or a sanctuary.
Eliade claims that when cultures create a sacred sector in space they are reenacting the very creation of the world.
Eliade claims special meanings for these hierophanies:
trees - the quest for immortality
the moon - fertility and the oscillation between life and death
the sun - autonomy and sovereignty
the hero - purity and perfection
Eliade points out that the awareness of the sacred is not limited to some ill-defined encounter with the numinous. Human beings can relate to the numinous in various ways.
C.G. Jung - archetypes
Carl Gustav Jung, a swiss analytic psychologist had much to say on this topic, but it is heavily tainted by pantheism.
Jung was a student of Freud, but broke with him over the interpretation of dreams.
Jung saw Freud as too narrow in that all dreams were either obsessed with sex or death, or both. Jung saw them as a consistent array of symbolic images.
He concluded that there are basic images (archetypes) that reside in the human unconscious and manifest themselves only indirectly in dreams and art.
These archetypes are also the building blocks of religion
Jung divided the unconscious into two parts:
1) Personal and individual
2) Collective
The archetypes dwell in the collective unconscious.
There are major problems with Jung's theory. While it is true that there are recurrent themes in mythology and symbolism it is not necessary to posit a collective unconscious to justify them. These similarities are the very fundamental thought patterns that human beings have.
These archetypal patterns express themselves in primordial religious experiences.
God has revealed himself, at least partially through these archetypes, but in other religions these archetypes are embedded in false content.
Don Richardson, a missionary, claims that God has instilled in many cultures some way that facilitates the understanding of the gospel.
These ways are no substitutes for the gospel, but provide an avenue for a person of that culture to come to understand the gospel.
At the heart of all religious experience there seems to be the awareness of the numinous- the mysterium tremendous et fascinosum.
However, people do not encounter the mysterium tremendum et fascinosum in a disembodied form. They experience them in hierophanies as they are because of the archetypal images embedded in the human mind.
Christians and non-Christians have similar religious experience despite one being true and all others being false because they share the phenomenological experience of the numinous, hierophanies, archetypes and redemptive analogies.
Reenter the rational and ethical
Ronald Green makes the rational concern of religion the cornerstone by showing that religion resolves the conflict between our moral standards and our moral performance.
The religious experience of an individual is constituted by both the phenomenological dimension and the ethical/redemptive context.
Back to General Revelation
Religion does not have solely a phenomenological existence. It has its grounding in a self-disclosing God.
From Finding Fords to Building Bridges
Bridges serve many purposes:
1) Facilitation of evangelism
2) Help us to live together in a civilized society
3) Identify where and where-not common social and ethical causes can be tackled
4) Contribute to the theologian's work in explaining the universe of God's making
Bridge One: Truth
Religion is about truth. Truth is an indispensable aspect of religion.
"Inter religious dialogue is only meaningful so long as truth is an overriding concern" (Corduan, 216).
Bridge Two: Morality
Religions have different moral codes and where they overlap they do so superficially. Nonetheless this is a good bridge point.
Bridge Three: The need for the transcendent
Philosophical:
1) There is a universal need for the transcendent
2) Where there is a universal need there must be an objective way of fulfilling that need
3) Therefore, there must be a transcendent to fulfill the human need of transcendence
Theological:
1) All human beings were created with the need for fellowship with God. This need goes largely unfulfilled due to the interference of sin.
2) This is a real need.
3) Therefore, we can appeal to this need and its objective fulfillment by God in Christ.
Summary
People can have experiences that appear religious because all human beings have fundamental similarities (the Holy [Otto], the role of hierophanies [Eliade], and the subconscious patterns [Jung, Richardson])
To bridge the gap between true religious experience (Christianity) and non-true religious experiences we can use emphasis on truth, morality and the need for the transcendent.
The Future in Eastern Religions vs. Christianity
(Originally written April 29, 2007 in Book 15)
The Future in Eastern Religions
Hinduism
Hinduism conceives time as cyclical. Currently we are living in the last age of the last era, the Kali Yuga.
At the close of this era Kalki will appear. Kali is the 10th and final incarnation of Vishnu. Kali will convert the whole world to the dharma and destroy Yama, the god of death.
Kalki and other Indic messiahs do not bring about the end of time. They only initiate the end of an age.
Eliade points out salvation is constituted by an escape from time, not a culmination of time.
Buddhism
The Bodhisattva (Buddha-in-waiting) Maitreya vowed to return as the Buddha of the next age.
Maitreya will bring about a time of universal enlightenment.
After the time of Maitreya a new era will follow and the cycle will restart.
Jainism
The final age will be the dusama dusama, a period of abject misery, no Tirthankaras, no religion and universal suffering.
Time then will begin ascending upwards again.
There will be 25 new Tirthankaras (counterparts to the other 25).
Salvation in Jainism is found in the escape from time.
The Future in Christianity
Christianity was born of fulfilled messianic expectations.
Christians used other Old Testament Messianic prophesies to corroborate the idea that Christ will come again.
Christianity possesses a powerful notion of now and not-yet.
Jesus Christ is central to Christianity in both the historical and spiritual dimensions.
Christ has four roles:
1) Teacher
2) Redeemer
3) Mystical Reality
4) Future King
The incarnation of God in Christ is different than any incarnation of a god in any other religion.
Other religions have incarnations, i.e. the avatars of Vishnu. But these are docetism incarnations.
Docetism was an early Christian heresy which claimed Christ only appeared to be human.
Christianity holds that "Jesus is fully God, but also fully human, and he has not abdicated either nature" (Corduan, 192).
Authentication: The Crucial Issue
20th century Apologetics devised the Legend-Lunatic-Liar-Lord argument about Jesus and who he said he was.
The Jews of the 1st century had no problem in accepting Jesus as supernatural but saw him as evil. The Jews put Jesus to death because they saw him as demonic.
The Future in Eastern Religions
Hinduism
Hinduism conceives time as cyclical. Currently we are living in the last age of the last era, the Kali Yuga.
At the close of this era Kalki will appear. Kali is the 10th and final incarnation of Vishnu. Kali will convert the whole world to the dharma and destroy Yama, the god of death.
Kalki and other Indic messiahs do not bring about the end of time. They only initiate the end of an age.
Eliade points out salvation is constituted by an escape from time, not a culmination of time.
Buddhism
The Bodhisattva (Buddha-in-waiting) Maitreya vowed to return as the Buddha of the next age.
Maitreya will bring about a time of universal enlightenment.
After the time of Maitreya a new era will follow and the cycle will restart.
Jainism
The final age will be the dusama dusama, a period of abject misery, no Tirthankaras, no religion and universal suffering.
Time then will begin ascending upwards again.
There will be 25 new Tirthankaras (counterparts to the other 25).
Salvation in Jainism is found in the escape from time.
The Future in Christianity
Christianity was born of fulfilled messianic expectations.
Christians used other Old Testament Messianic prophesies to corroborate the idea that Christ will come again.
Christianity possesses a powerful notion of now and not-yet.
Jesus Christ is central to Christianity in both the historical and spiritual dimensions.
Christ has four roles:
1) Teacher
2) Redeemer
3) Mystical Reality
4) Future King
The incarnation of God in Christ is different than any incarnation of a god in any other religion.
Other religions have incarnations, i.e. the avatars of Vishnu. But these are docetism incarnations.
Docetism was an early Christian heresy which claimed Christ only appeared to be human.
Christianity holds that "Jesus is fully God, but also fully human, and he has not abdicated either nature" (Corduan, 192).
Authentication: The Crucial Issue
20th century Apologetics devised the Legend-Lunatic-Liar-Lord argument about Jesus and who he said he was.
The Jews of the 1st century had no problem in accepting Jesus as supernatural but saw him as evil. The Jews put Jesus to death because they saw him as demonic.
Class Notes on Pluralism and Exclusivism
(Originally written April 29, 2007 in Book 15)
Class Notes
Grace & Redemption Debate
Options:
1) Ture Pluralism - DeNoia, Heim
2) Coerced Pluralism - John Hick
3) Bashful Pluralism - William Alston
4) Inclusivism - Karl Rahner
5) Exclusivism
Karl Barth
Two Options
1) Either you accept God as He revealed Himself as Christ
2) Or you do not accept God
All Christians have a belief system based on God. All non-Christians' belief systems are based on self. There is no common ground.
Are those who have never heard the gospel lost?
Before answering this question it must be based completely on Biblical data, not merely philosophical or emotive arguments.
Passages:
John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".
Acts 4:12 - "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved".
I Timothy 2:5 - "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ."
Romans 9:1-5 "I speak the truth in Christ - I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit - I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to the sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen"
1) Exclusivism because otherwise the anguish would make no sense.
2) Cursed and cut off from Christ makes sense only if it is possible.
Class Notes
Grace & Redemption Debate
Options:
1) Ture Pluralism - DeNoia, Heim
2) Coerced Pluralism - John Hick
3) Bashful Pluralism - William Alston
4) Inclusivism - Karl Rahner
5) Exclusivism
Karl Barth
Two Options
1) Either you accept God as He revealed Himself as Christ
2) Or you do not accept God
All Christians have a belief system based on God. All non-Christians' belief systems are based on self. There is no common ground.
Are those who have never heard the gospel lost?
Before answering this question it must be based completely on Biblical data, not merely philosophical or emotive arguments.
Passages:
John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me".
Acts 4:12 - "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved".
I Timothy 2:5 - "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ."
Romans 9:1-5 "I speak the truth in Christ - I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit - I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to the sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen"
1) Exclusivism because otherwise the anguish would make no sense.
2) Cursed and cut off from Christ makes sense only if it is possible.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Notes on Genesis 24-25
(Originally written April 28, 2007 in Book 16)
Notes on Genesis
24:1 Abraham was old and the Lord had blessed him in all things
24:2 Abraham had his servant place his hand on his inner thigh
24:3 He made him swear that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites
24:4 He made him swear to go to his father's land and find a wife for Isaac
24:5 The servant asked what if the woman won't follow him back to this country
24:6 Abraham commanded that the servant not take Isaac back to Ur
24:7 Abraham assured him that all will go well because the Lord told him it would
24:8 He said if the woman is unwilling then you are free of this oath, but do not take Isaac back there
24:9 The servant swore the oath under Abraham's thigh
24:10 The servant left and took all sorts of gifts and went to Nahor in Mesopotamia
24:11 He waited by a well
24:12 He cried out to God to grant him success
24:13 He said to God that he is waiting by a well where the daughters of the men at the city are coming to
24:14 He asked for sign that the woman who offers him water be the wife of Isaac
24:15 Before he was even done speaking Rebekah, granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor come out
24:16 Rebekah was good looking and a virgin. She drew water from the well
24:17 The servant asked for a drink
24:18 Rebekah gave him a drink
24:19 She drew water for the servant's camels
24:20 She emptied her jar and drew water again
24:21 The servant looked at her to learn whether or not the Lord had provided
24:22 The servant produced a gold ring and two gold bracelets for Rebekah
24:23 He asked her if their was room for him and her parent's house to stay
24:24 She said I am the son o Bethu'el, son of Nahor
24:25 She told them there was room for them and their animals at her father's house
24:26 The servant bowed and worshipped the Lord
24:27 He thanked the Lord for blessing Abraham and for leading him to his master's relatives
24:28 Rebekah saw and told her mother about the guests
24:29 Rebekah's brother Laban ran out to meet the servant of Abraham
24:30 He had seen the jewelry on Rebekah and ran out to meet the man that give it to her
24:31 Laban told them to come inside
24:32 Laban took care of the camels and gave water to the man to wash his feet
24:33 He gave food to the man
24:34 He told Laban that he was Abraham's servant
24:35 He told how the Lord had blessed Abraham
24:36 He told them how Sarah had bore a son to Abraham in old age
24:37 He told them about the oath he swore to Abraham
24:38 He told him that he swore to get a wife for Isaac from Abraham's kinsmen.
24:39 He told him how he was scared that the woman would not follow him
24:40 He told him that an angel would prepare the way
24:41 Then he told them that he would be free of the oath
24:42 He told him how he prayed to God at the well
24:43 He told Laban what he prayed
24:44 He told him that the wife of Isaac would give water to him an his camels
24:45 He told him that Rebekah had appeared before he was even done praying
24:46 He told him how Rebekah gave him a drink
24:47 He told him that he asked who was Rebekah's father and she replied Bethel, son of Nahor.
24:48 He told him that he bowed and worshipped the Lord
24:49 He asked them to deal loyally and true with him and Abraham
24:50 Laban and Bethel answered that his comes from the Lrod and they cannot speak bad or good.
24:51 Bethel told him to take Rebekah as Isaac's wife as the Lord had spoken.
24:52 Abraham's servant bowed before the Lord.
24:53 Abraham's servant gave jewelry to Rebekah, her brother and her mother.
24:54 He ate and spent the night there and asked to be sent back to Abraham
24:55 Rebekah's brother and mother asked for the girl to be left with them for 10 days
24:56 Abraham's servant said not to delay him because the Lord had prospered him
24:57-58 They called for Rebekah and asked if she would go with Abraham's servant and she said yes
24:59-60 They blessed Rebekah and sent her with Abraham's servant
24:61 The servant took Rebekah and went away
24:62 Isaac was dwelling in Negev
24:63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field and saw camels coming
24:64-65 Rebekah saw Isaac coming and covered herself
24:66 The servant told Isaac all that had happened
24:67 Isaac took Rebekah into his tent and she became his wife. He loved her and was comforted after his mother's death.
25:1 Abraham took another wife, Ketu'rah
25:2 Ketu'rah bore Abraham Zimron, Jokshawn, Medan, Ishbak and Shuah
25:3 Joskahn was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The song of Dedan were Asstiu'rim, Letu'shim, and Le-umimim
25:4 The sons of Mid'ian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abi'da, and Elda'ah
25:5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac
25:6 He gave gifts to his sons by his concubines and sent them eastward away from Isaac
25:7 Abraham lived 175 years
25:8 Abraham died
25:9 Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelath
25:10 This was the field Abraham had purchased. He was buried with Sarah
25:11 After the death of Abraham God blessed Isaac and he dwelled in Beer-La'Hai-roi
25:12 These are the descendants of Ishmael
25:13 Neba'ioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam
25:14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa
25:15 Hadid, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Ked'emah
25:16 These are the twelve princes according to their tribes
25:17 Ishmael lived 137 years
25:18 They dwelt from Havilah to Shur and conquered the people there
25:19 These are the sons of Isaac
25:20 Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah
25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord because she was barren and Rebekah conceived
25:22 The children struggled inside her an she prayed to God
25:23 The Lord said two nations are in your womb and these two nations will struggle against one another. The elder will serve the younger
25:24 When she delivered she had twins
25:25 The first to come was very hairy, Esau
25:26 Jacob came next holding the heel of Esau. Isaac was 60 years old
25:27 Esau grew up a hunter and Jacob grew up quiet
25:28 Isaac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob
25:29 Jacob was once boiling soup and Esau came in an said he was starving
25:30 Esau said let me eat some of that
25:31 Jacob said sell me your birthright
25:32 Esau said I am about to die, what do I need my birthright for
25:33 Jacob had Esau share to him
25:34 Jacob gave Esau bread and soup. Esau despised his birthright.
Notes on Genesis
24:1 Abraham was old and the Lord had blessed him in all things
24:2 Abraham had his servant place his hand on his inner thigh
24:3 He made him swear that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites
24:4 He made him swear to go to his father's land and find a wife for Isaac
24:5 The servant asked what if the woman won't follow him back to this country
24:6 Abraham commanded that the servant not take Isaac back to Ur
24:7 Abraham assured him that all will go well because the Lord told him it would
24:8 He said if the woman is unwilling then you are free of this oath, but do not take Isaac back there
24:9 The servant swore the oath under Abraham's thigh
24:10 The servant left and took all sorts of gifts and went to Nahor in Mesopotamia
24:11 He waited by a well
24:12 He cried out to God to grant him success
24:13 He said to God that he is waiting by a well where the daughters of the men at the city are coming to
24:14 He asked for sign that the woman who offers him water be the wife of Isaac
24:15 Before he was even done speaking Rebekah, granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor come out
24:16 Rebekah was good looking and a virgin. She drew water from the well
24:17 The servant asked for a drink
24:18 Rebekah gave him a drink
24:19 She drew water for the servant's camels
24:20 She emptied her jar and drew water again
24:21 The servant looked at her to learn whether or not the Lord had provided
24:22 The servant produced a gold ring and two gold bracelets for Rebekah
24:23 He asked her if their was room for him and her parent's house to stay
24:24 She said I am the son o Bethu'el, son of Nahor
24:25 She told them there was room for them and their animals at her father's house
24:26 The servant bowed and worshipped the Lord
24:27 He thanked the Lord for blessing Abraham and for leading him to his master's relatives
24:28 Rebekah saw and told her mother about the guests
24:29 Rebekah's brother Laban ran out to meet the servant of Abraham
24:30 He had seen the jewelry on Rebekah and ran out to meet the man that give it to her
24:31 Laban told them to come inside
24:32 Laban took care of the camels and gave water to the man to wash his feet
24:33 He gave food to the man
24:34 He told Laban that he was Abraham's servant
24:35 He told how the Lord had blessed Abraham
24:36 He told them how Sarah had bore a son to Abraham in old age
24:37 He told them about the oath he swore to Abraham
24:38 He told him that he swore to get a wife for Isaac from Abraham's kinsmen.
24:39 He told him how he was scared that the woman would not follow him
24:40 He told him that an angel would prepare the way
24:41 Then he told them that he would be free of the oath
24:42 He told him how he prayed to God at the well
24:43 He told Laban what he prayed
24:44 He told him that the wife of Isaac would give water to him an his camels
24:45 He told him that Rebekah had appeared before he was even done praying
24:46 He told him how Rebekah gave him a drink
24:47 He told him that he asked who was Rebekah's father and she replied Bethel, son of Nahor.
24:48 He told him that he bowed and worshipped the Lord
24:49 He asked them to deal loyally and true with him and Abraham
24:50 Laban and Bethel answered that his comes from the Lrod and they cannot speak bad or good.
24:51 Bethel told him to take Rebekah as Isaac's wife as the Lord had spoken.
24:52 Abraham's servant bowed before the Lord.
24:53 Abraham's servant gave jewelry to Rebekah, her brother and her mother.
24:54 He ate and spent the night there and asked to be sent back to Abraham
24:55 Rebekah's brother and mother asked for the girl to be left with them for 10 days
24:56 Abraham's servant said not to delay him because the Lord had prospered him
24:57-58 They called for Rebekah and asked if she would go with Abraham's servant and she said yes
24:59-60 They blessed Rebekah and sent her with Abraham's servant
24:61 The servant took Rebekah and went away
24:62 Isaac was dwelling in Negev
24:63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field and saw camels coming
24:64-65 Rebekah saw Isaac coming and covered herself
24:66 The servant told Isaac all that had happened
24:67 Isaac took Rebekah into his tent and she became his wife. He loved her and was comforted after his mother's death.
25:1 Abraham took another wife, Ketu'rah
25:2 Ketu'rah bore Abraham Zimron, Jokshawn, Medan, Ishbak and Shuah
25:3 Joskahn was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The song of Dedan were Asstiu'rim, Letu'shim, and Le-umimim
25:4 The sons of Mid'ian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abi'da, and Elda'ah
25:5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac
25:6 He gave gifts to his sons by his concubines and sent them eastward away from Isaac
25:7 Abraham lived 175 years
25:8 Abraham died
25:9 Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelath
25:10 This was the field Abraham had purchased. He was buried with Sarah
25:11 After the death of Abraham God blessed Isaac and he dwelled in Beer-La'Hai-roi
25:12 These are the descendants of Ishmael
25:13 Neba'ioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam
25:14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa
25:15 Hadid, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Ked'emah
25:16 These are the twelve princes according to their tribes
25:17 Ishmael lived 137 years
25:18 They dwelt from Havilah to Shur and conquered the people there
25:19 These are the sons of Isaac
25:20 Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah
25:21 Isaac prayed to the Lord because she was barren and Rebekah conceived
25:22 The children struggled inside her an she prayed to God
25:23 The Lord said two nations are in your womb and these two nations will struggle against one another. The elder will serve the younger
25:24 When she delivered she had twins
25:25 The first to come was very hairy, Esau
25:26 Jacob came next holding the heel of Esau. Isaac was 60 years old
25:27 Esau grew up a hunter and Jacob grew up quiet
25:28 Isaac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob
25:29 Jacob was once boiling soup and Esau came in an said he was starving
25:30 Esau said let me eat some of that
25:31 Jacob said sell me your birthright
25:32 Esau said I am about to die, what do I need my birthright for
25:33 Jacob had Esau share to him
25:34 Jacob gave Esau bread and soup. Esau despised his birthright.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Notes on Genesis 11-23
(Originally written April 27, 2007 in Book 16)
11:1 The whole earth had one language and few words
11:2 Men migrated east and settled in the land of Shinar
11:3 They made bricks and mortar
11:4 They built a city with a tower that's top reached the Heavens to make a name for themselves and so they would not be scattered across the whole earth
11:5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower
11:6 The Lord said that this is the beginning of what man will do and nothing that they propose will be impossible for them
11:7 The Lord decided to confuse their language
11:8 The Lord scattered the men all over the world and they left their city
11:9 Its name is Ba'bel because the Lord confused their language
11:10 These are the descendants of Shem
11:11 Shem lived 502 years after the flood
-7,669 years from Adam to the death of Shem
11:12 Arpach'shad, son of Shem begat Shelah at 35 years old
11:13 Arpach'shad lived 403 years after the birth of Shelah
11:14 Shelah had Eber when he was 30 years old
11:15 Shelah lived 403 years after the birth of Eber
11:16 When Eber was 34 he had Peleg
11:17 Eber lived 430 years after the birth of Peleg
11:18 Peleg had Re'u when he was 30 years old
11:19 Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Re'u
11:20 Re'u was 32 years old when he had Serug
11:21 Re'u lived 207 years after the birth of Serug
11:22 Serug was 30 years when he had Nahor
11:23 Serug lived for 200 years after the birth of Nahor
11:24 Nahor was 29 when he had Terah
11:25 Nahor lived 119 years after the birth of Terah
11:26 Terah was 70 years old when he had Abram, Nahor and Haran
11:27 These are the descendants of Terah: Jerah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Karan was the father of Lot.
11:28 Haran died before Jerah in Ur of the Chaldeans.
11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives. Abram's wife was Sarai, Nahor's wife was Milcah
11:30 Sarai was barren and had no child
11:31 Terah took Abram (his son), Lot (his grandson) and Sara (his daughter-in-law) from Ur to go to Canaan. But they settled in Haran.
11:32 Terah lived for 205 years and died in Haran
Abraham
12:1 The Lord told Abram to leave his country and his father's house and go to the land that He will show him
12:2 The Lord said He will make a great nation of Abram and make him a blessing
12:3 He promised to bless those who bless him and curse those who cursed him and told him that "by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves"
-1st Messianic Prophecy
12:4 Abram left as the Lord told him to. Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran
12:5 They took all their possessions and left Haran for Canaan
12:6 Abram passed through Canaan to Shechem
12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and promised this land to Abram's descendants. Abram built an altar to the Lord
12:8 Abram left to the mountain east of Dothal and pitched his tent there. He built an altar to the Lord and called upon his name.
12:9 Abram journeyed on going toward Negev
12:10 There was a famine so Abram went down to Egypt
12:11 When he went to Egypt he told Sarai that she was a beautiful to behold
12:12 He said they will kill me if they know you are my wife
12:13 He said say you are my sister so my life can be spared on your account
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw Sarai was very beautiful
12:15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her and praised her to the Pharaoh
12:16 The Pharaoh death well with Abram for Sarai's sake
12:17 The LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai.
12:18 Pharaoh called Abram to him and asked what have you done to me
12:19 He asked why he told him that Sarai was his sister so he took her for his wife
12:20 Pharaoh sent Abram on his way with all his possessions and those he had got in Egypt
13:1 Abram and his family left Egypt and went to Negev
13:2 Abram was now very rich in cattle, silver and gold
13:3 Abram returned to the place he had pitched a tent near Bethel
13:4 Abram called upon the Lord
13:5 Lot also had flocks and herds and tents
13:6 The land could not support both Lot and Abram
13:7 There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot
13:8 Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between us
13:9 He said take the left on the right, I will take the opposite
13:10 Lot saw that the Jordan Valley was good
13:11 Lot chose the Jordan Valley and journeyed east: Lot and Abram separated.
13:12 Abram lived among the cities of the valley and moved his tents near Sodom
13:13 The men of Sodom were great sinners against the Lord
13:14 The Lord spoke to Abram: Look at the place you are at, northward, southward, eastward and westward
13:15 All the land you see I will give to your descendants
13:16 I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth
13:17 Walk the breadth of the land and I will give it to you
13:18 Abram moved his tent and dwelt at Hebron and built on altar to the Lord
14:1 Am'raphal, king of Shiner, Ar'iah, king of Ella'sar, Chhod-or-lao'mer, king of Elam and Tidal, king of Goi'im
14:2 These kings made war with Bara, king of Sodom and Birsha, king of Gomorra, Shinah, king of Admah, Sheme'ber, king of Zeboi'im and the king of Bela
14:3 These kings joined forces in the valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea)
14:4 They rebelled against Chadorlaomer after serving him 12 years
14:5 Chedorlaomer subdued Reph'aim in Ash'teroth Kaprna'im, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emimin Sha'veh-Kiriatha'im
14:6 and the Hornets in Mount Se'ir
14:7 Ched-or-lao'mer turned back to Enmish'pat (Kadesh) and subdued the Amal'ekites and the Amorites of Haz'azon-ta'man
14:8 Then the kings of Sodom and Gommorah, Admah, Zeboi'im and Bela jointed the battle in the Valley of Siddim
14:9 They fought the kings of Elam, Goi'im, Shiner and Ella'sar
14:10 The Valley of Siddim was full of bitamar pits. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and some men fell into these pits
14:11 The enemy took al of the goods and provinces of Sodom and Gomorrah and left.
14:12 They also took Lot and his goods
14:13 One who escaped fled and told Abram the Hebrew, and Marvethe Amorite, Eschol and Aner (allies of Abram)
14:14 Abram led 318 trained men after them as far as Dan
14:15 He divided his forces at night and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus
14:16 He brought back all of the goods and Lot with his goods, and the women and the people
14:17 After returning from defeating Ched-or-lao'men and his allies the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram at the vally of Shaveh
14:18 Melchizedek, king of Salem brought bread and wine. Melchizedek was the pries of God Most High
14:19 Melchizedek blessed Abram
14:20 Melchizedek blessed God Most High. Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe
- This is the God of original monotheism, which is identical to YHWH
14:21 The king of Sodom told Abram to keep the goods, but give him the people
14:22 Abram said he swore to the LORD God Most High
-This verifies 14:20a
14:23 Abram swore he would not take anything that was the king of Sodom because the king of Sodom could claim he made Abram rich
14:24 He said let Aner, Eschol and Mamre take their share
15:1 The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision
15:2 Abram asked what the Lord will give him because was still childless
15:3 He moaned that a slave born in his house would be his heir
15:4 The Lord promised that Abram's son, not the slave would be his heir
15:5 God promised that Abram's descendants will be as numerous as the stars.
15:6 Abram believed the Lord and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness
15:7 The Lord said I am the Lord who brought you from Ur to give their land to you
15:8 Abram asked how he would know that he possessed it
15:9 The Lord said bring me a heifer, a she-goat and a ram three years old, a turtledove and a young pigeon.
15:10 Abram brought them, cut them in two and laid each half over the other, but did not cut the birds
15:11 Abram drove the birds of prey a way from the dead animals
15:12 Abram fell asleep into a deep sleep and great darkness fell on him
15:13 The Lord spoke to Abram and told him that his descendants will be wanderers and slaves in a foreign land for 400 years
15:14 The Lord said he will bring judgment on the enlsavers and his descendants will leave very rich
15:15 He told him that Abram would die of old age in peace
15:16 He said that his descendants will come back here in the 4th generation because the sins of the Amorites are still incomplete
15:17 A smoking fire pot and torch passed by
15:18 The Lord made a covenant with Abram and gave Abram's descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates river
15:19 He gave the land of the Ken'ites, the Ken'izzarites, the Kad'monites, the Hittites, the Per'izites, the Reph'aim
15:20 and the land of the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gir'gashites and the Jeb'usites
16:1 Sarai had not bore Abram any children. She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar.
16:2 Sarai gave Abram Hagar so that she could have children through her
16:3 Sarai gave Hagar to Abram as a wife
16:4 Hagar conceived and Sarai looked at Hagar with contempt
16:5 Sarai became angry with Abram
16:6 Sarai treated Hagar harshly and Hagar fled from Sarai
16:7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring near Shur
16:8 The angel of the Lord asked Hagar where she was going
16:9 The angel of the Lord bid Hagar to return to Sarai
16:10 The angel of the Lord said to Hagar that the Lord will multiply her descendants
16:11 The child of Hagar was to be named Ishmael because the Lord had seen Hagar's affliction
16:12 Ishmael will be a wild man against all men
16:13 Hagar spoke to the angel and wailed, "Have I seen God and remained alive?"
16:14 The well was called Beer-la'hai-roi (the well of the one who sees and lives)
16:15 Hagar bore Abram a son and they named him Ishmael
16:16 Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born
17:1 The Lord commanded Abram to walk before him and be blameless when Abram was 99.
17:2 The Lord made a covenant with Abram
17:3 Abram fell on his face before God.
17:4 The Lord said my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of many nations
17:5 The Lord changed his name from Abram to Abraham
17:6 The Lord said I will make you exceedingly fruitful and things will come from you
17:7 God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to be their God forever
17:8 God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants forever
17:9 God told Abraham that he and his descendants will keep this covenant
17:10 God commanded that every male must be circumcised
17:11 Circumcision is the sign of the covenant
17:12 The males must all be circumcised at 80 days old and all males in Abraham's house must be circumcised now
17:13 The covenant is everlasting
17:14 All who are not circumcised must be cut off from the people because he has broken God's covenant
17:15 God changes Sarai's name to Sarah
17:16 God promises to bless her and give her a son
17:17 Abraham fell on his face and laughed because Abraham and Sarah were old
17:18 Abraham pleaded that Ishmael would live in God's sight
17:19 God says no and says that Sarah will bear a son, called Issac. Issac will receive the covenant of the Lord.
17:20 God promises to make Ishmael a great nation
17:21 But, God will establish his covenant with Isaac.
17:22 God left Abraham
17:23 Abraham had all the males of his house circumcised
17:24 Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised
17:25 Ismael was 13 when he was circumcised
17:26 Everyone was circumcised the day the Lord commanded it
17:27 All of the house were circumcised
18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the door of his tent
18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing in front of Him. He ran and bowed to them.
18:3 Abraham pleaded to the Lord not to pass by him
18:4 He pleaded for them to relax under the tree
18:5 Abraham offered them bread
18:6 Abraham ran to Sarah and told her to make cakes
18:7 He ran to the cattle and took a good and tender calf and gave it to the servant to prepare it.
18:8 He took curds, milk and the calf to the men under the tree
18:9 They asked him where Sarah was and Abraham replied in the tent
18:10 The Lord said Sarah will have a baby in the spring. Sarah was listening behind the tent door
18:11 Sarah laughed to herself at hearing this
18:13 The Lord asked Abraham why did Sarah laugh at this?
18:14 He asked is anything too hard for the Lord?
18:15 Sarah denied laughing, but the Lord said that she did
18:16 The men set off for Sodom and Abraham followed
18:17 The Lord asked if He should hide His plans from Abraham
18:18 Abraham is the chosen one who all descendants will come from
18:19 The Lord decided not to hide it from Abraham because he had chosen Abraham
18:20 The Lord said that because of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the outcry against them is great
18:21 I wil go down and see what is happening for myself
18:22 The men went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord
18:23 He asked the Lord if He would destroy the wicked and the righteous together
18:24 He asked if the Lord would spare it for 50 righteous men
18:25 He asked the Lord if He would do what is right
18:26 The Lord said he would spare all of Sodom for the sake of 50 righteous men
18:27 Then Abraham said that he is but dust and ashes
18:28 He asked if he would spare Sodom for 45 righteous men. God said he would.
18:29 Abraham asked them for the sake of 40 men would the Lord spare Sodom. God replied he would spare it.
18:30 Abraham asked then for the sake of 30 would God spare Sodom and God said he would.
18:31 Abraham asked then for the sake of 20 would God spare Sodom and God said that he would.
18:32 Then Abraham asked what about for the sake of 10 and God said he would spare it.
18:33 The Lord went his way and Abraham returned to his place.
19:1 The two Angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot at the gates rose to meet them and bowed before them
19:2 Lot begged them to spend the night at his house and they refused.
19:3 Lot urged them so strongly they agreed and went to his house for a feast
19:4 The men of Sodom, both young and old surrounded Lot's house
19:5 They called to Lot to bring out the men that there staying with them so that they could "know" them
19:6 Lot went out to the crowd
19:7 He bogged them not to act so wickedly
19:8 He offered his two virgin daughters in replace of his guests
19:9 They rushed Lot and drew close to break down the door.
19:10 The guests saved Lot and shut the door
19:11 The angels struck all of the men with blindness
19:12 The angels asked Lot if he had anyone else to bring out of Sodom
19:13 They told him they were about to destroy this place because the Lord sent them to do it.
19:14 Lot told his sons-in-law to be ready to leave because the Lord was giving to destroy this place, but they thought he was kidding
19:15 The angels told Lot to take his wife and two daughters to leave so they would escape the punishment of the whole city
19:16 Lot hesitated and the angels took them by the hands and led them out of the city
19:17 They told them to flee for their lives and not to look back lest they be consumed
19:18 Lot said oh no my lords
19:19 I cannot go into the hills for I will die
19:20 He begged to be able to flee to another city
19:21 Lot went to the city
19:22 They told Lot to hurry to the city called Zo'ar
19:23 The sun had risen when Lot made it to Zohar
19:24 The Lord rained fire and brimstone down upon Sodom and Gomorrah
19:25 The Lord overthrew the whole city and valley and everything that grew on the ground
19:26 Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt
19:27 Abraham rose early in the morning and stood before the Lord
19:28 He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and saw the smoke
19:29 God destroyed the cities of the Valley but remembered Abraham and spared Lot
19:30 Lot left Zohar and dwelled in a cave with his two daughters
19:31 The older daughter said to the younger that there is no man to bear us children
19:32 She said let's get Lot drunk and have sex with him so they can have offspring
19:33 So they made Lot drink and the oldest daughter laid with him
19:34 The older daughter said let us make him drink so that you can lay with him tonight
19:35 The younger daughter had sex with him and Lot did not know
19:36 Both Lot's daughters were with child by him
19:37 The eldest daughter gave birth to Moab who is the father of the Moabites
19:38 The youngest daughter gave birth to Ben-ammi, the father of the Ammonites
20:1 Abraham journeyed to Negev and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur
20:2 Abraham told them that Sarah was his sister and Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her as his wife
20:3 The Lord appeared to Abimelech and said you are a dead man for taking Sarah as your wife
20:4 Abimelech asked if the Lord would slay an innocent man because he had not slept with her
20:5 Abimelech pleaded with the Lord because Abraham had said she was his sister.
20:6 The Lord replied that He had not let Abimelech touch Sarah
20:7 The Lord said to return Sarah to Abraham and you will live, otherwise you will die
20:8 Abimelech told his servants this and they are all very afraid
20:9 Abimelech told Abraham that you have done things to me that ought not be done to man
20:10 Abimelech asked why Abraham would do such a thing.
20:11 Abraham replied he did this so he would not be killed
20:12 He also revealed that Sarah is the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, so he took her as his wife
20:13 He told him that he did it because the Lord told him to do it
20:14 Abimelech gave Abraham sheep and oxen, slaves and restored Sarah to him
20:15 Abimelech offered Abraham wherever he wished to say
20:16 Abimelech said to Sarah that he has now righted his wrong against her
20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his house
20:18 The Lord had closed all of the wombs of Abimelech's house because of Sarah
21:1 The Lord visited Sarah and fulfilled his promise
21:2 Sarah bore a son to Abraham as God had promised
21:3 Abraham called his son Isaac
21:4 Abraham circumcised Isaac as God commanded him
21:5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born
21:6 Sarah said God has made laughter for me
21:7 Sarah said I have bore a son to Abraham in my old age
21:8 Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned
21:9 Sarah saw Ishmael playing with Isaac
21:10 Sarah demanded that Abraham cast out Hagar and her son
21:11 Abraham was very displeased
21:12 The Lord said to Abraham to do as Sarah asked
21:13 He promised Abraham that He would make a nation of Ishmael
21:14 Abraham gave Hagar bread and water and cast them out. Hagar wandered into the wilderness of Beer-Sheba
21:15 Hagar put the child under the bushes
21:16 She left the child so as not to watch him die. Ishmael cried out and wept for her
21:17 The Lord heard Ishmael and sent an Angel to comfort Hagar
21:18 The angel commanded Hagar to carry the child because he would be the father of a great nation
21:19 God opened her eyes and she saw a well and gave her son a drink
21:20 God was with Ishmael and he grew up strong and became good with the bow
21:21 Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran and Hagar took a wife for him from Egypt
21:22 Abimelech and Phicol (the commander of the army) came to Abraham and said God is with you in all you do
21:23 Abimelech asked Abraham to deal with him squarely
21:24 Abraham swore he would
21:25 Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which had been seized by Abimelech's servants
21:26 Abimelech said he had no knowledge of this
21:27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech said he had no knowledge of this
21:28 Abimelech asked what was the meaning of the 7 ewes Abraham had set apart
21:29-30 Abraham replied that these 7 ewes were a sign that Abimelech would know that Abraham had dug this well
21:31 The place was called Beer-Sheba because both men had made a covenant
21:32 Abimelech and Phicol returned to the Land of the Philistines
21:33 Abraham planted a tree in Ber-Sheba and called on the name of the Lord
21:34 Abraham sojourned may days in the land of the Philistines
22:1 God then tested Abraham
22:2 God told Abraham to take Isaac, his only son whom he loved, to Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice
22:3 Abraham took Isaac and two men and left for the place God had told him to go
22:4 Abraham saw the place on the third day
22:5 Abraham left the two men and took Isaac
22:6 Abraham took the word of the offering and laid it on Isaac and took the fire and knife in his hands and traveled to the mountain
22:7 Isaac asked Abraham where the offering was
22:8 Abraham replied that God will provide the offering
22:9 Abraham built an altar and laid Isaac on it and bound him
22:10 Abraham took the knife to kill his son
22:11 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham and he stopped
22:12 The angel commanded Abraham not to harm the boy because the Lord knew that Abraham withheld nothing from him
22:13 A ram was stuck in the bush and Abraham killed and offered the ram to God
22:14 Abraham called the place the Lord will provide
22:15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time
22:16 The Lord declared that because Abraham had not withheld his son
22:17 That he will bless Abraham and fulfill the covenant
22:18 Because Abraham obeyed the voice of God all nations will bless themselves through him
22:19 Abraham and Isaac and the two men returned to Beer-Sheba
22:20 Abraham learned that his brother Nahor had children: Uz, Buz and Kemu'el, father of Aram
22:22 Kemu'el also had Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethu'el
22:23 Bethel became the father of Rebekah
22:24 Nahor's concubine Reumah had Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Ma'acah
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years
23:2 Sarah died at Kir'iath-ar' by Hebron in Canaan. Abraham mourned her
23:3 Abraham spoke to the Hittites
23:4 He asked for a place to bury Sarah
23:5 The Hittites answered
23:6 They offered Abraham the best places to bury Sarah
23:7 Abraham bowed to the
23:8 He asked for Ephron, son of Zohar
23:9 He asked Ephron for the cave Mach-pe'lah and he would pay full price
23:10 Ephron was sitting among the Hittites
23:11 Ephron offered the cave and tiled to Abraham for free
23:12 Abraham bowed down before the people of the Lord
23:13 Abraham insisted that he pay
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham
23:15 He said it is worth 400 shekels of silver and asked what is that between us. He insisted that Abraham bury his dead.
23:16 Abraham measured out 400 shekels of silver among the Hittites and paid Ephron
23:17 The field and the cave were given to Abraham
23:18 It was done in front of the Hittites
23:19 Abraham buried Sarah in the cave
23:20 The Hittites sold the land and the cave to Abraham
11:1 The whole earth had one language and few words
11:2 Men migrated east and settled in the land of Shinar
11:3 They made bricks and mortar
11:4 They built a city with a tower that's top reached the Heavens to make a name for themselves and so they would not be scattered across the whole earth
11:5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower
11:6 The Lord said that this is the beginning of what man will do and nothing that they propose will be impossible for them
11:7 The Lord decided to confuse their language
11:8 The Lord scattered the men all over the world and they left their city
11:9 Its name is Ba'bel because the Lord confused their language
11:10 These are the descendants of Shem
11:11 Shem lived 502 years after the flood
-7,669 years from Adam to the death of Shem
11:12 Arpach'shad, son of Shem begat Shelah at 35 years old
11:13 Arpach'shad lived 403 years after the birth of Shelah
11:14 Shelah had Eber when he was 30 years old
11:15 Shelah lived 403 years after the birth of Eber
11:16 When Eber was 34 he had Peleg
11:17 Eber lived 430 years after the birth of Peleg
11:18 Peleg had Re'u when he was 30 years old
11:19 Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Re'u
11:20 Re'u was 32 years old when he had Serug
11:21 Re'u lived 207 years after the birth of Serug
11:22 Serug was 30 years when he had Nahor
11:23 Serug lived for 200 years after the birth of Nahor
11:24 Nahor was 29 when he had Terah
11:25 Nahor lived 119 years after the birth of Terah
11:26 Terah was 70 years old when he had Abram, Nahor and Haran
11:27 These are the descendants of Terah: Jerah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Karan was the father of Lot.
11:28 Haran died before Jerah in Ur of the Chaldeans.
11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives. Abram's wife was Sarai, Nahor's wife was Milcah
11:30 Sarai was barren and had no child
11:31 Terah took Abram (his son), Lot (his grandson) and Sara (his daughter-in-law) from Ur to go to Canaan. But they settled in Haran.
11:32 Terah lived for 205 years and died in Haran
Abraham
12:1 The Lord told Abram to leave his country and his father's house and go to the land that He will show him
12:2 The Lord said He will make a great nation of Abram and make him a blessing
12:3 He promised to bless those who bless him and curse those who cursed him and told him that "by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves"
-1st Messianic Prophecy
12:4 Abram left as the Lord told him to. Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran
12:5 They took all their possessions and left Haran for Canaan
12:6 Abram passed through Canaan to Shechem
12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and promised this land to Abram's descendants. Abram built an altar to the Lord
12:8 Abram left to the mountain east of Dothal and pitched his tent there. He built an altar to the Lord and called upon his name.
12:9 Abram journeyed on going toward Negev
12:10 There was a famine so Abram went down to Egypt
12:11 When he went to Egypt he told Sarai that she was a beautiful to behold
12:12 He said they will kill me if they know you are my wife
12:13 He said say you are my sister so my life can be spared on your account
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw Sarai was very beautiful
12:15 The princes of Pharaoh saw her and praised her to the Pharaoh
12:16 The Pharaoh death well with Abram for Sarai's sake
12:17 The LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai.
12:18 Pharaoh called Abram to him and asked what have you done to me
12:19 He asked why he told him that Sarai was his sister so he took her for his wife
12:20 Pharaoh sent Abram on his way with all his possessions and those he had got in Egypt
13:1 Abram and his family left Egypt and went to Negev
13:2 Abram was now very rich in cattle, silver and gold
13:3 Abram returned to the place he had pitched a tent near Bethel
13:4 Abram called upon the Lord
13:5 Lot also had flocks and herds and tents
13:6 The land could not support both Lot and Abram
13:7 There was strife between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot
13:8 Abram said to Lot, let there be no strife between us
13:9 He said take the left on the right, I will take the opposite
13:10 Lot saw that the Jordan Valley was good
13:11 Lot chose the Jordan Valley and journeyed east: Lot and Abram separated.
13:12 Abram lived among the cities of the valley and moved his tents near Sodom
13:13 The men of Sodom were great sinners against the Lord
13:14 The Lord spoke to Abram: Look at the place you are at, northward, southward, eastward and westward
13:15 All the land you see I will give to your descendants
13:16 I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth
13:17 Walk the breadth of the land and I will give it to you
13:18 Abram moved his tent and dwelt at Hebron and built on altar to the Lord
14:1 Am'raphal, king of Shiner, Ar'iah, king of Ella'sar, Chhod-or-lao'mer, king of Elam and Tidal, king of Goi'im
14:2 These kings made war with Bara, king of Sodom and Birsha, king of Gomorra, Shinah, king of Admah, Sheme'ber, king of Zeboi'im and the king of Bela
14:3 These kings joined forces in the valley of Siddim (the Salt Sea)
14:4 They rebelled against Chadorlaomer after serving him 12 years
14:5 Chedorlaomer subdued Reph'aim in Ash'teroth Kaprna'im, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emimin Sha'veh-Kiriatha'im
14:6 and the Hornets in Mount Se'ir
14:7 Ched-or-lao'mer turned back to Enmish'pat (Kadesh) and subdued the Amal'ekites and the Amorites of Haz'azon-ta'man
14:8 Then the kings of Sodom and Gommorah, Admah, Zeboi'im and Bela jointed the battle in the Valley of Siddim
14:9 They fought the kings of Elam, Goi'im, Shiner and Ella'sar
14:10 The Valley of Siddim was full of bitamar pits. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and some men fell into these pits
14:11 The enemy took al of the goods and provinces of Sodom and Gomorrah and left.
14:12 They also took Lot and his goods
14:13 One who escaped fled and told Abram the Hebrew, and Marvethe Amorite, Eschol and Aner (allies of Abram)
14:14 Abram led 318 trained men after them as far as Dan
14:15 He divided his forces at night and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus
14:16 He brought back all of the goods and Lot with his goods, and the women and the people
14:17 After returning from defeating Ched-or-lao'men and his allies the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram at the vally of Shaveh
14:18 Melchizedek, king of Salem brought bread and wine. Melchizedek was the pries of God Most High
14:19 Melchizedek blessed Abram
14:20 Melchizedek blessed God Most High. Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe
- This is the God of original monotheism, which is identical to YHWH
14:21 The king of Sodom told Abram to keep the goods, but give him the people
14:22 Abram said he swore to the LORD God Most High
-This verifies 14:20a
14:23 Abram swore he would not take anything that was the king of Sodom because the king of Sodom could claim he made Abram rich
14:24 He said let Aner, Eschol and Mamre take their share
15:1 The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision
15:2 Abram asked what the Lord will give him because was still childless
15:3 He moaned that a slave born in his house would be his heir
15:4 The Lord promised that Abram's son, not the slave would be his heir
15:5 God promised that Abram's descendants will be as numerous as the stars.
15:6 Abram believed the Lord and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness
15:7 The Lord said I am the Lord who brought you from Ur to give their land to you
15:8 Abram asked how he would know that he possessed it
15:9 The Lord said bring me a heifer, a she-goat and a ram three years old, a turtledove and a young pigeon.
15:10 Abram brought them, cut them in two and laid each half over the other, but did not cut the birds
15:11 Abram drove the birds of prey a way from the dead animals
15:12 Abram fell asleep into a deep sleep and great darkness fell on him
15:13 The Lord spoke to Abram and told him that his descendants will be wanderers and slaves in a foreign land for 400 years
15:14 The Lord said he will bring judgment on the enlsavers and his descendants will leave very rich
15:15 He told him that Abram would die of old age in peace
15:16 He said that his descendants will come back here in the 4th generation because the sins of the Amorites are still incomplete
15:17 A smoking fire pot and torch passed by
15:18 The Lord made a covenant with Abram and gave Abram's descendants the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates river
15:19 He gave the land of the Ken'ites, the Ken'izzarites, the Kad'monites, the Hittites, the Per'izites, the Reph'aim
15:20 and the land of the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Gir'gashites and the Jeb'usites
16:1 Sarai had not bore Abram any children. She had an Egyptian maid named Hagar.
16:2 Sarai gave Abram Hagar so that she could have children through her
16:3 Sarai gave Hagar to Abram as a wife
16:4 Hagar conceived and Sarai looked at Hagar with contempt
16:5 Sarai became angry with Abram
16:6 Sarai treated Hagar harshly and Hagar fled from Sarai
16:7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring near Shur
16:8 The angel of the Lord asked Hagar where she was going
16:9 The angel of the Lord bid Hagar to return to Sarai
16:10 The angel of the Lord said to Hagar that the Lord will multiply her descendants
16:11 The child of Hagar was to be named Ishmael because the Lord had seen Hagar's affliction
16:12 Ishmael will be a wild man against all men
16:13 Hagar spoke to the angel and wailed, "Have I seen God and remained alive?"
16:14 The well was called Beer-la'hai-roi (the well of the one who sees and lives)
16:15 Hagar bore Abram a son and they named him Ishmael
16:16 Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born
17:1 The Lord commanded Abram to walk before him and be blameless when Abram was 99.
17:2 The Lord made a covenant with Abram
17:3 Abram fell on his face before God.
17:4 The Lord said my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of many nations
17:5 The Lord changed his name from Abram to Abraham
17:6 The Lord said I will make you exceedingly fruitful and things will come from you
17:7 God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to be their God forever
17:8 God will give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants forever
17:9 God told Abraham that he and his descendants will keep this covenant
17:10 God commanded that every male must be circumcised
17:11 Circumcision is the sign of the covenant
17:12 The males must all be circumcised at 80 days old and all males in Abraham's house must be circumcised now
17:13 The covenant is everlasting
17:14 All who are not circumcised must be cut off from the people because he has broken God's covenant
17:15 God changes Sarai's name to Sarah
17:16 God promises to bless her and give her a son
17:17 Abraham fell on his face and laughed because Abraham and Sarah were old
17:18 Abraham pleaded that Ishmael would live in God's sight
17:19 God says no and says that Sarah will bear a son, called Issac. Issac will receive the covenant of the Lord.
17:20 God promises to make Ishmael a great nation
17:21 But, God will establish his covenant with Isaac.
17:22 God left Abraham
17:23 Abraham had all the males of his house circumcised
17:24 Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised
17:25 Ismael was 13 when he was circumcised
17:26 Everyone was circumcised the day the Lord commanded it
17:27 All of the house were circumcised
18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the door of his tent
18:2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing in front of Him. He ran and bowed to them.
18:3 Abraham pleaded to the Lord not to pass by him
18:4 He pleaded for them to relax under the tree
18:5 Abraham offered them bread
18:6 Abraham ran to Sarah and told her to make cakes
18:7 He ran to the cattle and took a good and tender calf and gave it to the servant to prepare it.
18:8 He took curds, milk and the calf to the men under the tree
18:9 They asked him where Sarah was and Abraham replied in the tent
18:10 The Lord said Sarah will have a baby in the spring. Sarah was listening behind the tent door
18:11 Sarah laughed to herself at hearing this
18:13 The Lord asked Abraham why did Sarah laugh at this?
18:14 He asked is anything too hard for the Lord?
18:15 Sarah denied laughing, but the Lord said that she did
18:16 The men set off for Sodom and Abraham followed
18:17 The Lord asked if He should hide His plans from Abraham
18:18 Abraham is the chosen one who all descendants will come from
18:19 The Lord decided not to hide it from Abraham because he had chosen Abraham
18:20 The Lord said that because of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and the outcry against them is great
18:21 I wil go down and see what is happening for myself
18:22 The men went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the Lord
18:23 He asked the Lord if He would destroy the wicked and the righteous together
18:24 He asked if the Lord would spare it for 50 righteous men
18:25 He asked the Lord if He would do what is right
18:26 The Lord said he would spare all of Sodom for the sake of 50 righteous men
18:27 Then Abraham said that he is but dust and ashes
18:28 He asked if he would spare Sodom for 45 righteous men. God said he would.
18:29 Abraham asked them for the sake of 40 men would the Lord spare Sodom. God replied he would spare it.
18:30 Abraham asked then for the sake of 30 would God spare Sodom and God said he would.
18:31 Abraham asked then for the sake of 20 would God spare Sodom and God said that he would.
18:32 Then Abraham asked what about for the sake of 10 and God said he would spare it.
18:33 The Lord went his way and Abraham returned to his place.
19:1 The two Angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot at the gates rose to meet them and bowed before them
19:2 Lot begged them to spend the night at his house and they refused.
19:3 Lot urged them so strongly they agreed and went to his house for a feast
19:4 The men of Sodom, both young and old surrounded Lot's house
19:5 They called to Lot to bring out the men that there staying with them so that they could "know" them
19:6 Lot went out to the crowd
19:7 He bogged them not to act so wickedly
19:8 He offered his two virgin daughters in replace of his guests
19:9 They rushed Lot and drew close to break down the door.
19:10 The guests saved Lot and shut the door
19:11 The angels struck all of the men with blindness
19:12 The angels asked Lot if he had anyone else to bring out of Sodom
19:13 They told him they were about to destroy this place because the Lord sent them to do it.
19:14 Lot told his sons-in-law to be ready to leave because the Lord was giving to destroy this place, but they thought he was kidding
19:15 The angels told Lot to take his wife and two daughters to leave so they would escape the punishment of the whole city
19:16 Lot hesitated and the angels took them by the hands and led them out of the city
19:17 They told them to flee for their lives and not to look back lest they be consumed
19:18 Lot said oh no my lords
19:19 I cannot go into the hills for I will die
19:20 He begged to be able to flee to another city
19:21 Lot went to the city
19:22 They told Lot to hurry to the city called Zo'ar
19:23 The sun had risen when Lot made it to Zohar
19:24 The Lord rained fire and brimstone down upon Sodom and Gomorrah
19:25 The Lord overthrew the whole city and valley and everything that grew on the ground
19:26 Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt
19:27 Abraham rose early in the morning and stood before the Lord
19:28 He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and saw the smoke
19:29 God destroyed the cities of the Valley but remembered Abraham and spared Lot
19:30 Lot left Zohar and dwelled in a cave with his two daughters
19:31 The older daughter said to the younger that there is no man to bear us children
19:32 She said let's get Lot drunk and have sex with him so they can have offspring
19:33 So they made Lot drink and the oldest daughter laid with him
19:34 The older daughter said let us make him drink so that you can lay with him tonight
19:35 The younger daughter had sex with him and Lot did not know
19:36 Both Lot's daughters were with child by him
19:37 The eldest daughter gave birth to Moab who is the father of the Moabites
19:38 The youngest daughter gave birth to Ben-ammi, the father of the Ammonites
20:1 Abraham journeyed to Negev and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur
20:2 Abraham told them that Sarah was his sister and Abimelech, king of Gerar, took her as his wife
20:3 The Lord appeared to Abimelech and said you are a dead man for taking Sarah as your wife
20:4 Abimelech asked if the Lord would slay an innocent man because he had not slept with her
20:5 Abimelech pleaded with the Lord because Abraham had said she was his sister.
20:6 The Lord replied that He had not let Abimelech touch Sarah
20:7 The Lord said to return Sarah to Abraham and you will live, otherwise you will die
20:8 Abimelech told his servants this and they are all very afraid
20:9 Abimelech told Abraham that you have done things to me that ought not be done to man
20:10 Abimelech asked why Abraham would do such a thing.
20:11 Abraham replied he did this so he would not be killed
20:12 He also revealed that Sarah is the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, so he took her as his wife
20:13 He told him that he did it because the Lord told him to do it
20:14 Abimelech gave Abraham sheep and oxen, slaves and restored Sarah to him
20:15 Abimelech offered Abraham wherever he wished to say
20:16 Abimelech said to Sarah that he has now righted his wrong against her
20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God and God healed Abimelech and his house
20:18 The Lord had closed all of the wombs of Abimelech's house because of Sarah
21:1 The Lord visited Sarah and fulfilled his promise
21:2 Sarah bore a son to Abraham as God had promised
21:3 Abraham called his son Isaac
21:4 Abraham circumcised Isaac as God commanded him
21:5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born
21:6 Sarah said God has made laughter for me
21:7 Sarah said I have bore a son to Abraham in my old age
21:8 Abraham made a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned
21:9 Sarah saw Ishmael playing with Isaac
21:10 Sarah demanded that Abraham cast out Hagar and her son
21:11 Abraham was very displeased
21:12 The Lord said to Abraham to do as Sarah asked
21:13 He promised Abraham that He would make a nation of Ishmael
21:14 Abraham gave Hagar bread and water and cast them out. Hagar wandered into the wilderness of Beer-Sheba
21:15 Hagar put the child under the bushes
21:16 She left the child so as not to watch him die. Ishmael cried out and wept for her
21:17 The Lord heard Ishmael and sent an Angel to comfort Hagar
21:18 The angel commanded Hagar to carry the child because he would be the father of a great nation
21:19 God opened her eyes and she saw a well and gave her son a drink
21:20 God was with Ishmael and he grew up strong and became good with the bow
21:21 Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran and Hagar took a wife for him from Egypt
21:22 Abimelech and Phicol (the commander of the army) came to Abraham and said God is with you in all you do
21:23 Abimelech asked Abraham to deal with him squarely
21:24 Abraham swore he would
21:25 Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well which had been seized by Abimelech's servants
21:26 Abimelech said he had no knowledge of this
21:27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech said he had no knowledge of this
21:28 Abimelech asked what was the meaning of the 7 ewes Abraham had set apart
21:29-30 Abraham replied that these 7 ewes were a sign that Abimelech would know that Abraham had dug this well
21:31 The place was called Beer-Sheba because both men had made a covenant
21:32 Abimelech and Phicol returned to the Land of the Philistines
21:33 Abraham planted a tree in Ber-Sheba and called on the name of the Lord
21:34 Abraham sojourned may days in the land of the Philistines
22:1 God then tested Abraham
22:2 God told Abraham to take Isaac, his only son whom he loved, to Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice
22:3 Abraham took Isaac and two men and left for the place God had told him to go
22:4 Abraham saw the place on the third day
22:5 Abraham left the two men and took Isaac
22:6 Abraham took the word of the offering and laid it on Isaac and took the fire and knife in his hands and traveled to the mountain
22:7 Isaac asked Abraham where the offering was
22:8 Abraham replied that God will provide the offering
22:9 Abraham built an altar and laid Isaac on it and bound him
22:10 Abraham took the knife to kill his son
22:11 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham and he stopped
22:12 The angel commanded Abraham not to harm the boy because the Lord knew that Abraham withheld nothing from him
22:13 A ram was stuck in the bush and Abraham killed and offered the ram to God
22:14 Abraham called the place the Lord will provide
22:15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time
22:16 The Lord declared that because Abraham had not withheld his son
22:17 That he will bless Abraham and fulfill the covenant
22:18 Because Abraham obeyed the voice of God all nations will bless themselves through him
22:19 Abraham and Isaac and the two men returned to Beer-Sheba
22:20 Abraham learned that his brother Nahor had children: Uz, Buz and Kemu'el, father of Aram
22:22 Kemu'el also had Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethu'el
22:23 Bethel became the father of Rebekah
22:24 Nahor's concubine Reumah had Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Ma'acah
23:1 Sarah lived 127 years
23:2 Sarah died at Kir'iath-ar' by Hebron in Canaan. Abraham mourned her
23:3 Abraham spoke to the Hittites
23:4 He asked for a place to bury Sarah
23:5 The Hittites answered
23:6 They offered Abraham the best places to bury Sarah
23:7 Abraham bowed to the
23:8 He asked for Ephron, son of Zohar
23:9 He asked Ephron for the cave Mach-pe'lah and he would pay full price
23:10 Ephron was sitting among the Hittites
23:11 Ephron offered the cave and tiled to Abraham for free
23:12 Abraham bowed down before the people of the Lord
23:13 Abraham insisted that he pay
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham
23:15 He said it is worth 400 shekels of silver and asked what is that between us. He insisted that Abraham bury his dead.
23:16 Abraham measured out 400 shekels of silver among the Hittites and paid Ephron
23:17 The field and the cave were given to Abraham
23:18 It was done in front of the Hittites
23:19 Abraham buried Sarah in the cave
23:20 The Hittites sold the land and the cave to Abraham
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Notes on Genesis 1-10
(Originally written April 26, 2007 in Book 16)
Back to the Basic, the foundation
The Oxford Annotated Bible (RSV)
Creation, Adam & Eve and the Fall of Man
1:1 Heavens and Earth
1:2 Earth was without form and void.
- What does form mean? Purpose? Shape?
1:3 Light created
1:4 Light called good, light separated from darkness
1:5 Light called day, darkness called night
- Naming implies ownership. God owes night and day. There can be no dualism here where day is good and night is evil because God owns both.
1:6 Day 2: separates the water from the earth and sky
1:7 God makes sky
1:8 Day 2 ends
1:9 God makes dry land
1:10 God names land "Earth" and the waters "seas"
-Ownership of Earth and seas
1:11 God creates vegetation
1:12 God calls the vegetation good
1:13 End of Day 3
1:14 God creates the stars to serve as signs
-Important note: God creates signs
1:15 The stars give light to the earth
1:16 od specifically purposes the Sun and the moon and the stars
1:17 Purpose of the stars to give light upon the earth
1:18 God calls the stars good
1:19 End of day 4
1:20 God creates fish (sea creatures) and birds (air creatures)
1:21 God calls both the sea creatures and air creatures good
1:22 God gives them purpose/meaning: "Be fruitful and multiply"
1:23 End of Day 5
1:24 God creates land creatures
1:25 God calls the land creatures good
1:26 God sets out to create man in His own image. Man's purpose is to have dominion over the creatures of earth
- "Let us make man in our image" implies a multiplicity in God
1:27 God creates man and woman
1:28 God blesses man and gives him purpose: "Fill the earth and subdue it, take dominion over all the creatures"
1:29 God gives all the plants yielding seeds and fruit to man as food
1:30 God gives the plants to all animals to eat
1:31 Everything God created he calls very good. End of Day 6
2:1 Creation of Everything was complete
-Does this rule out evolution, or at least macro evolution?
2:2 God rested on the 7th day
2:3 God blessed the 7th Day
2:4 Recount of creation
2:5 Day 1: Heaven and earth, but no plants, no rain, no man
2:6 There was only a mist from the earth to water the whole ground
2:7 God formed man from the dust of the ground an breathed life in to him
- This definitely rules out man from the evolutionary cycle
2:8 God plants the Garden of Eden and puts man there
2:9 The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil are planted in the garden with all the other trees
2:10 The River that flowed out of Eden watered the garden and divided into four Rivers
2:11 Pishon flows around the whole land of Havilah. Havilah contains gold.
- What does Pishon mean?
- What does Havilah mean?
- What are the implications of gold existing?
2:12 The gold of Havilah is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there
- What is the significance of Gold, Bdellium and onyx?
2:13 The rive Giron flows around the whole land of Cush
2:14 The Tigris flows east of Assyria and the 4th river is the Euphrates.
2:15 God gives man purpose in the Garden of Eden: to till and keep it
-Man's existence in paradise was not void of purpose or duty
2:16 The LORD commanded man to eat freely of every tree in the garden
2:17 The LORD commanded man to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that you eat of it you shall die.
2:18 God decides that it is not good for man to be alone and decides to make a helper fit for him
2:19 God brings all the creatures to Adam to see what he will call them
- Man's naming of the creatures implies ownership
2:20 There was no suitable helper among all the creatures
2:21 God caused man to have a deep sleep and removed a rib from him
2:22 From man's rib God formed woman and brought her to Adam
2:23 Man calls woman, "woman" because she is the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
2:24 Man and woman becomes one flesh
- Institution of marriage by God
- Implicit denial of homosexuality
2:25 Man and Woman are naked, but not ashamed
3:1 The serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature. He asked the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?"
3:2 The woman replied we may eat of any tree
3:3 But, God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die
- The is the first human distortion of God's commands by man. Notice that it is a building on of God's law, not a detraction. This is an interesting point. She tends towards legalism rather than hedonism. What is the significance here?
3:4 The serpent said, "you will not die"
- This is the first refutation or denial of God's claims. It is the first lie.
3:5 The serpent says you won't die, but your eyes will be opened and become like God.
- Now the lie is emboldened by an enticement
- The serpent makes the false claim that downing good and evil is what makes God God
3:6 The woman saw the tree was good for food and was a way to become wise. Thus she ate from it and gave some to her husband who ate.
- There is a conscious decision for the woman to eat and then a conscious decision for the man to eat. Two separate sins.
3:7 They became aware of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together to make clothes
- The innocence is lost
3:8 Man and woman hide from God who is walking in the garden.
3:9 The LORD calls out to the man and woman
3:10 Man said he hid from God because he was afraid and naked
- First sense of fear
3:11 God accuses man of eating from the tree he was not supposed to eat from.
3:12 The man blames the woman (and God for giving him the woman) for giving him the fruit
- First blasphemy of God
3:13 God asks the woman what have you done? The woman blames the serpent
3:14 God curses the serpent worse than any other animal and forces him to slither on his belly
3:15 God instills enmity between women and serpents
3:16 God curses the woman in child brith by greatly multiplying the pain
-This is interesting that He will increase the pain but not create pain in child birth. Thus, not all pain can be called Evil.
God instills a desire in woman for her husband and places him in charge of her
3:17 God curses the ground as a result of man's sin
3:18 God demands that the ground will bring forth thorns and thistles but that man will nonetheless eat the plants of the field.
3:19 God states that man will return from where he came. man is of dust and will return to dust.
3:20 God called the woman Eve because she was the mother of all living
3:21 The LORD made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed him
- First killing
3:22 God declares that man has become like one of us knowing good and evil and must be stopped from eating of the tree of life and living forever.
3:23 Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden
3:24 God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life from man
4:1 Adam and Eve had sex and Cain was born. She proclaimed that she bore a man by the help of the Lord
- Even after sinning and banishment Eve still acknowledges God and His help
4:2 She then bore Abel. Abel became a sheep herder and Cain became a farmer
4:3 Cain brought an offering to the Lord of fruit
4:4 Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and the fat ones as an offering to the Lord. The Lord accepted Abel's offering
4:5 Cain's offering was not accepted. Cain became very angry.
4:6 The Lord asked why Cain was angry
4:7 The Lord says if you do well you will be accepted, but if you do not do well sin will over take you. He tells Cain that sin desires for him, but that he must master sin.
4:8 Cain lures Abel into the field and murders him
- First murder, significantly different then the 1st killing (Gen. 3:21)
4:9 The Lord asks Cain where his brother is and Cain retorts, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
4:10 The Lord replies, "the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground"
4:11 The Lord says now you are cursed from the ground
4:12 Cain is diminished to a fugitive and a wanderer of the the earth
4:13 Cain states that his punishment is more than he can bear
4:14 Cain fears that he will be killed since he wanders and is hidden from God
4:15 The Lord marked Cain so that no man would kill him
4:16 Cain left the Presence of the Lord and dwelt in Nod, east of Eden
- This whole situation is intriguing. Despite the banishment from the garden and a murder God has direct contact with Cain. When did this direct contact stop and why?
4:17 Cain took a wife and had a son, Enoch. Cain built a city called Enoch.
4:18 Enoch begat Irad. Iran begat Me-hulja-el. Me-hulja-el begat Me-thu'sha-el. Me-thu'sha-el begat Lamech.
4:19 Lamech had two wives: Adah and Zilla
-first instance of polygamy
4:20 Adah bore Jabal to Lamech. Jabal is the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
4:21 Adah also bore Jubal who became the father of those who play the lyre and pipe.
4:22 Zillah bore Tubal-Cain who was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron
4:23 Lamech said to his wives: I have slain a man for wounding me. I have killed a young man for striking me.
4:24 He said if Cain is avenged seven-fold, Lamech is avenged seventy-seven fold.
4:25 Adam and Eve had Seth. Eve said Seth is appointed by God because Cain slew Abel.
4:26 Seth had a son, Enosh. At this time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Genealogies
5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam"
- Is this separate from the first four chapters? When God created man he made him in the likeness of God
5:2 God blessed and named them
5:3 At 130 years old Adam had Seth. Seth was in the likeness of Adam
- Adam is in the image of God. Seth in the image of Adam. Is Seth then in the image of God equal to being in the image of God or less?
5:4 Adam had other sons and daughters
5:5 Adam lived 930 years and died
5:6 Seth was 105 years old when he had a son, Enosh
5:7 Seth had other sons and daughters
5:8 Seth lived 912 years and died
- Some say that it is ridiculous to assume this is literal. Others say it is unfair that they live that long. Why did God delay death so long back then? Why is the curse so much harsher now? But, God said that man will fear death all of his life. If we live longer then we fear death longer. Maybe our short lifespans are an act of mercy, not an act of curse.
5:9 Enosh was 90 years old when he had a son, Kenan
5:10 Enosh had many other sons and daughters
5:11 Enosh lived 905 years and died
5:12 Kenan was 70 years old when he had a son, Ma-hal'alel
5:13 Kenan had many other sons and daughter
5:14 Kenan lived 910 years and died
5:15 When Ma-hal'alel lived 65 years when he had a son, Jared
5:16 Ma-hal'alel had other sons and daughters
5:17 Ma-hal'alel lived 895 years and died
- Quick recap Adam - Ma-hal'alel 4,092 years
5:18 Jared had a son, Enoch, when he was 162.
5:19 Jared had other sons and daughters
5:20 Jared lived 962 years and died
- Adam to Jared: 4,892 years
5:21 Enoch had a son, Methuselah, when he was 65
5:22 Enoch had other sons and daughters
5:23 Encoh lived 365 years and then walked with God
5:24 God took Enoch, he did not die
- Adam to Enoch 5,192 years
5:25 Methuselah had Lamech when he was 187 years old
5:26 Methuselah had other sons and daughters
5:27 Methuselah lived 969 years
- Adam to Methuselah: 5,974 years
5:28 Lamech was 182 years old when he had Noah
5:29 Noah is named because he is the one who will bring relief from our work
5:30 Lamech had other sons and daughters
5:31 Lamech lived 777 years and died
- Adam to Lamech: 6,569 years
5:32 Noah had Shem, Ham and Japheth at 500 years old
- Adam to Noah 7,069
Noah & The Flood
6:1 Men began to multiply and daughters were born to them
6:2 "The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were fair and they took to wife such of them as they chose"
- This has been used very oddly, like to prove the intercourse between angels and women. I think this is merely God-fearing men taking up non-God fearing wives.
6:3 The Lord said that man's days are numbered 120 years
- Is this no one will live past 120 years or when the flood will occur, or are years not literal here and the end of earth will come about in 120 'years'.
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days
- What are the Nephilim? The children of the sons of God and the daughters of men were the "mighty men that were of old, the men of renown"
- What does this mean?
6:5 The LORD saw the wickedness of men in those days and saw that their imaginations were always an evil.
6:6 The LORD was sorry that He even made man.
6:7 The Lord decided to blot out man
6:8 Noah however, found favor with the Lord
6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
6:10 Noah had 3 sons: Ham, Shem and Japheth
6:11 Earth was corrupt and full of violence
6:12 All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth
6:13 God told Noah he was going to destroy the flesh and the earth
6:14 God commanded Noah to make an ark
6:15 Length of the Ark: 300 cubits, Breadth of the Ark: 50 cubits, Height of the Ark: 30 cubits
6:16 Make the Ark with three decks
6:17 God tells Noah that a flood will kill everything on Earth
6:18 But Noah and his family will be safe by God's covenant with Noah
6:19 Also a male-female of every living thing will be sound on the ark
6:20 Two of every animal will come to Noah and to be kept alive
6:21 God tells Noah to store every sort of food for the flood
6:22 Noah did everything that God commanded
7:1 God commands Noah and his family to enter the Ark
7:2 7 pairs of all clean animals are to be taken into the art and 1 pair of all unclean animals too.
7:3 7 pairs of the birds are also to be taken into the ark
7:4 The flood of rain for 40 days and 40 nights will come in 7 days and blot out all life on earth.
7:5 Noah did all that God commanded of him
7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came
- 7,169 years between Adam and Flood
7:7 Noah and his sons and his sons' wives went into the ark to be saved
7:8 The animals followed Noah into the ark
7:9 Male and female animals followed Noah
7:10 After 7 days, the flood came upon the earth
7:11 The fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heaven were opened
7:12 Rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights
7:13 The flood began the day that Noah and his family entered the ark
7:14 The flood began the day that the animals entered the ark
7:15 Everything that was supposed to enter the ark went in according to its kind
7:16 The LORD shut them all in
7:17 The waters increased for 40 days and nights
7:18 The ark floated on the surface of the water
7:19 Even the mountains were covered by water
7:20 The mountains were covered then by 15 cubits deep
7:21 Everything on the earth died
7:22 Whatever had breath died
7:23 Only Noah and those who were with him survived
7:24 The waters were on the earth for 150 days
8:1 God remembered Noah and everything on the ark. He caused a wind to subside the waters.
8:2 The fountains of the deep were closed; the rain stopped
8:3 After 150 days the water had receded
8:4 The ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
8:5 After ten months the tops of the mountains were visible
8:6 Noah opened the window of the ark
8:7 He sent out a raven
8:8 Then he sent out a dove
8:9 The dove returned because it had nowhere to rest
8:10 After 7 days he sent the dove out again
8:11 It returned with an olive branch
8:12 He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return
8:13 Noah removed the covering of the ark and found that it was dry on the surface
8:14 After another month the ground was fully dry
8:15 God spoke to Noah
8:16 God said to Noah take your family and leave the ark
8:17 God told him to release the animals so they could be fruitful and multiply
8:18 Noah left the ark with his family
8:19 Everything left the ark
8:20 Noah built an altar and made sacrifices to the LORD
8:21 Upon smelling the odor God vowed never to curse the ground again because of man or to destroy every living creature
- God says that the imagination of men's heart is evil from his youth
- God smelled and maybe anthropomorphic isn't as bad as it is expected
8:22 He promised that so long as the earth exists the seasons and day and night will not cease
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:2 He told them that every living creature will fear man and be delivered unto them
9:3 God gives them everything that exist as food
- The first condoning of meat-eating
9:4 God says not to eat flesh when it is still alive, no eating of blood
9:5 This is a sin that will require a reckoning
9:6 God warns that whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed because man is made in the image of God
9:7 God tells them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:8 God spoke to Noah and his sons
9:9 God establishes a covenant with them
9:10 God establishes a covenant with everything that came out of the ark
9:11 This covenant states that never again will God destroy the earth by flood
9:12 God gives them a sign of the covenant
9:13 The rainbow is the sign
9:14 When the rainbow is seen...
9:15 ... God will remember this covenant
9:16 It is an everlasting covenant between flesh and God
9:17 God tells Noah this is the sign of the covenant between God and all flesh that is on the earth
9:18 Shem, Ham and Japheth were the sons of Noah who got off the Ark. Ham was the father of Canaan.
9:19 From the sons of Noah the whole earth was peopled.
9:20 Noah tilled the soil and planted a vineyard
9:21 He drank wine and became drunk and laid naked in his tent
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers
- This may mean that he raped him. Is this true?
9:23 Shem and Japheth covered Noah without looking at him naked
9:24 Noah awoke and knew what Ham (his youngest) had done to him
9:25 Noah cursed Canaan: "a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers"
9:26 Noah blessed Shem and said let Canaan be his slave
9:27 Noah played that Japheth would prosper and that Canaan would also be his slave.
9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years
9:29 Noah lived 950 years
- Adam to the death of Noah: 7,519 years
10:1 The generations of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth
10:2 Sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Jovan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras
10:3 Sons of Gomer: Ash, Kenaz, Riphath and Togar'mah
10:4 Sons of Javan: Eli'shah, Tarshish, Kittim and Do'danim
10:5 Japheth - They have their own lands, their own language and their own nations
10:6 Sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan
10:7 Sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah and Sab'teca. Sons of Ra'amah: Sheba and Dedan
10:8 Cush became the father of Nimrod, Nimrod was the first mighty man
10:9 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord
10:10 Nimrod's kingdom was Ba'bel, Erech, and Accad, all in the land of Shiner
10:11 From there Nimrod went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Reho'both-Ir and Calah
10:12 Rosen between Nineveh and Calah is a great city
10:13-13 Egypt became the Father of Ludim, An'amim, Leha'bim, Naph-tu'him, Pathru'sim, Caslu'him (where the Philistines force from) and Caph'torim
10:15 Canaan begat: Sidon and Heth
10:16-18 Canaan is the father of: the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hives, the Arkoites, the Simites, the Arlvadites, the Zem'arites, and the Ha'mathites. The families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
10:19 The territory of the Canaanites extends from Sidon to Gaza to Admah to Lasha
10:20 These are the sons of Ham
10:21 Shem is the father of all the children of Eber
10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpach'shad, Lud and Aram
10:23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash
10:24 Arpach'shad begat Shelah. Shellac begat Eber
10:25 Eber's sons: Peleg and Joktan
10:26-29 The sons of Joktan: Almo'dad, Sheleph, Hazarma'reth, Jerah, Hador'am, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abim'a-el, Sheba, Ophir, Hav'ilah and Jobab.
10:30 The sons of Joktan occupy the territory from Mesha to the hill country of the east
10:31 These are the sons of Shem
10:32 These are the descendants of Noah, according to their nations. These spread abroad the whole art after the flood.
Back to the Basic, the foundation
The Oxford Annotated Bible (RSV)
Creation, Adam & Eve and the Fall of Man
1:1 Heavens and Earth
1:2 Earth was without form and void.
- What does form mean? Purpose? Shape?
1:3 Light created
1:4 Light called good, light separated from darkness
1:5 Light called day, darkness called night
- Naming implies ownership. God owes night and day. There can be no dualism here where day is good and night is evil because God owns both.
1:6 Day 2: separates the water from the earth and sky
1:7 God makes sky
1:8 Day 2 ends
1:9 God makes dry land
1:10 God names land "Earth" and the waters "seas"
-Ownership of Earth and seas
1:11 God creates vegetation
1:12 God calls the vegetation good
1:13 End of Day 3
1:14 God creates the stars to serve as signs
-Important note: God creates signs
1:15 The stars give light to the earth
1:16 od specifically purposes the Sun and the moon and the stars
1:17 Purpose of the stars to give light upon the earth
1:18 God calls the stars good
1:19 End of day 4
1:20 God creates fish (sea creatures) and birds (air creatures)
1:21 God calls both the sea creatures and air creatures good
1:22 God gives them purpose/meaning: "Be fruitful and multiply"
1:23 End of Day 5
1:24 God creates land creatures
1:25 God calls the land creatures good
1:26 God sets out to create man in His own image. Man's purpose is to have dominion over the creatures of earth
- "Let us make man in our image" implies a multiplicity in God
1:27 God creates man and woman
1:28 God blesses man and gives him purpose: "Fill the earth and subdue it, take dominion over all the creatures"
1:29 God gives all the plants yielding seeds and fruit to man as food
1:30 God gives the plants to all animals to eat
1:31 Everything God created he calls very good. End of Day 6
2:1 Creation of Everything was complete
-Does this rule out evolution, or at least macro evolution?
2:2 God rested on the 7th day
2:3 God blessed the 7th Day
2:4 Recount of creation
2:5 Day 1: Heaven and earth, but no plants, no rain, no man
2:6 There was only a mist from the earth to water the whole ground
2:7 God formed man from the dust of the ground an breathed life in to him
- This definitely rules out man from the evolutionary cycle
2:8 God plants the Garden of Eden and puts man there
2:9 The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil are planted in the garden with all the other trees
2:10 The River that flowed out of Eden watered the garden and divided into four Rivers
2:11 Pishon flows around the whole land of Havilah. Havilah contains gold.
- What does Pishon mean?
- What does Havilah mean?
- What are the implications of gold existing?
2:12 The gold of Havilah is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there
- What is the significance of Gold, Bdellium and onyx?
2:13 The rive Giron flows around the whole land of Cush
2:14 The Tigris flows east of Assyria and the 4th river is the Euphrates.
2:15 God gives man purpose in the Garden of Eden: to till and keep it
-Man's existence in paradise was not void of purpose or duty
2:16 The LORD commanded man to eat freely of every tree in the garden
2:17 The LORD commanded man to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that you eat of it you shall die.
2:18 God decides that it is not good for man to be alone and decides to make a helper fit for him
2:19 God brings all the creatures to Adam to see what he will call them
- Man's naming of the creatures implies ownership
2:20 There was no suitable helper among all the creatures
2:21 God caused man to have a deep sleep and removed a rib from him
2:22 From man's rib God formed woman and brought her to Adam
2:23 Man calls woman, "woman" because she is the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh
2:24 Man and woman becomes one flesh
- Institution of marriage by God
- Implicit denial of homosexuality
2:25 Man and Woman are naked, but not ashamed
3:1 The serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature. He asked the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?"
3:2 The woman replied we may eat of any tree
3:3 But, God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die
- The is the first human distortion of God's commands by man. Notice that it is a building on of God's law, not a detraction. This is an interesting point. She tends towards legalism rather than hedonism. What is the significance here?
3:4 The serpent said, "you will not die"
- This is the first refutation or denial of God's claims. It is the first lie.
3:5 The serpent says you won't die, but your eyes will be opened and become like God.
- Now the lie is emboldened by an enticement
- The serpent makes the false claim that downing good and evil is what makes God God
3:6 The woman saw the tree was good for food and was a way to become wise. Thus she ate from it and gave some to her husband who ate.
- There is a conscious decision for the woman to eat and then a conscious decision for the man to eat. Two separate sins.
3:7 They became aware of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together to make clothes
- The innocence is lost
3:8 Man and woman hide from God who is walking in the garden.
3:9 The LORD calls out to the man and woman
3:10 Man said he hid from God because he was afraid and naked
- First sense of fear
3:11 God accuses man of eating from the tree he was not supposed to eat from.
3:12 The man blames the woman (and God for giving him the woman) for giving him the fruit
- First blasphemy of God
3:13 God asks the woman what have you done? The woman blames the serpent
3:14 God curses the serpent worse than any other animal and forces him to slither on his belly
3:15 God instills enmity between women and serpents
3:16 God curses the woman in child brith by greatly multiplying the pain
-This is interesting that He will increase the pain but not create pain in child birth. Thus, not all pain can be called Evil.
God instills a desire in woman for her husband and places him in charge of her
3:17 God curses the ground as a result of man's sin
3:18 God demands that the ground will bring forth thorns and thistles but that man will nonetheless eat the plants of the field.
3:19 God states that man will return from where he came. man is of dust and will return to dust.
3:20 God called the woman Eve because she was the mother of all living
3:21 The LORD made garments of skin for Adam and Eve and clothed him
- First killing
3:22 God declares that man has become like one of us knowing good and evil and must be stopped from eating of the tree of life and living forever.
3:23 Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden
3:24 God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life from man
4:1 Adam and Eve had sex and Cain was born. She proclaimed that she bore a man by the help of the Lord
- Even after sinning and banishment Eve still acknowledges God and His help
4:2 She then bore Abel. Abel became a sheep herder and Cain became a farmer
4:3 Cain brought an offering to the Lord of fruit
4:4 Abel brought the firstlings of his flock and the fat ones as an offering to the Lord. The Lord accepted Abel's offering
4:5 Cain's offering was not accepted. Cain became very angry.
4:6 The Lord asked why Cain was angry
4:7 The Lord says if you do well you will be accepted, but if you do not do well sin will over take you. He tells Cain that sin desires for him, but that he must master sin.
4:8 Cain lures Abel into the field and murders him
- First murder, significantly different then the 1st killing (Gen. 3:21)
4:9 The Lord asks Cain where his brother is and Cain retorts, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"
4:10 The Lord replies, "the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground"
4:11 The Lord says now you are cursed from the ground
4:12 Cain is diminished to a fugitive and a wanderer of the the earth
4:13 Cain states that his punishment is more than he can bear
4:14 Cain fears that he will be killed since he wanders and is hidden from God
4:15 The Lord marked Cain so that no man would kill him
4:16 Cain left the Presence of the Lord and dwelt in Nod, east of Eden
- This whole situation is intriguing. Despite the banishment from the garden and a murder God has direct contact with Cain. When did this direct contact stop and why?
4:17 Cain took a wife and had a son, Enoch. Cain built a city called Enoch.
4:18 Enoch begat Irad. Iran begat Me-hulja-el. Me-hulja-el begat Me-thu'sha-el. Me-thu'sha-el begat Lamech.
4:19 Lamech had two wives: Adah and Zilla
-first instance of polygamy
4:20 Adah bore Jabal to Lamech. Jabal is the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle.
4:21 Adah also bore Jubal who became the father of those who play the lyre and pipe.
4:22 Zillah bore Tubal-Cain who was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron
4:23 Lamech said to his wives: I have slain a man for wounding me. I have killed a young man for striking me.
4:24 He said if Cain is avenged seven-fold, Lamech is avenged seventy-seven fold.
4:25 Adam and Eve had Seth. Eve said Seth is appointed by God because Cain slew Abel.
4:26 Seth had a son, Enosh. At this time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Genealogies
5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam"
- Is this separate from the first four chapters? When God created man he made him in the likeness of God
5:2 God blessed and named them
5:3 At 130 years old Adam had Seth. Seth was in the likeness of Adam
- Adam is in the image of God. Seth in the image of Adam. Is Seth then in the image of God equal to being in the image of God or less?
5:4 Adam had other sons and daughters
5:5 Adam lived 930 years and died
5:6 Seth was 105 years old when he had a son, Enosh
5:7 Seth had other sons and daughters
5:8 Seth lived 912 years and died
- Some say that it is ridiculous to assume this is literal. Others say it is unfair that they live that long. Why did God delay death so long back then? Why is the curse so much harsher now? But, God said that man will fear death all of his life. If we live longer then we fear death longer. Maybe our short lifespans are an act of mercy, not an act of curse.
5:9 Enosh was 90 years old when he had a son, Kenan
5:10 Enosh had many other sons and daughters
5:11 Enosh lived 905 years and died
5:12 Kenan was 70 years old when he had a son, Ma-hal'alel
5:13 Kenan had many other sons and daughter
5:14 Kenan lived 910 years and died
5:15 When Ma-hal'alel lived 65 years when he had a son, Jared
5:16 Ma-hal'alel had other sons and daughters
5:17 Ma-hal'alel lived 895 years and died
- Quick recap Adam - Ma-hal'alel 4,092 years
5:18 Jared had a son, Enoch, when he was 162.
5:19 Jared had other sons and daughters
5:20 Jared lived 962 years and died
- Adam to Jared: 4,892 years
5:21 Enoch had a son, Methuselah, when he was 65
5:22 Enoch had other sons and daughters
5:23 Encoh lived 365 years and then walked with God
5:24 God took Enoch, he did not die
- Adam to Enoch 5,192 years
5:25 Methuselah had Lamech when he was 187 years old
5:26 Methuselah had other sons and daughters
5:27 Methuselah lived 969 years
- Adam to Methuselah: 5,974 years
5:28 Lamech was 182 years old when he had Noah
5:29 Noah is named because he is the one who will bring relief from our work
5:30 Lamech had other sons and daughters
5:31 Lamech lived 777 years and died
- Adam to Lamech: 6,569 years
5:32 Noah had Shem, Ham and Japheth at 500 years old
- Adam to Noah 7,069
Noah & The Flood
6:1 Men began to multiply and daughters were born to them
6:2 "The sons of God saw that the daughters of man were fair and they took to wife such of them as they chose"
- This has been used very oddly, like to prove the intercourse between angels and women. I think this is merely God-fearing men taking up non-God fearing wives.
6:3 The Lord said that man's days are numbered 120 years
- Is this no one will live past 120 years or when the flood will occur, or are years not literal here and the end of earth will come about in 120 'years'.
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days
- What are the Nephilim? The children of the sons of God and the daughters of men were the "mighty men that were of old, the men of renown"
- What does this mean?
6:5 The LORD saw the wickedness of men in those days and saw that their imaginations were always an evil.
6:6 The LORD was sorry that He even made man.
6:7 The Lord decided to blot out man
6:8 Noah however, found favor with the Lord
6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
6:10 Noah had 3 sons: Ham, Shem and Japheth
6:11 Earth was corrupt and full of violence
6:12 All flesh had corrupted their way on the earth
6:13 God told Noah he was going to destroy the flesh and the earth
6:14 God commanded Noah to make an ark
6:15 Length of the Ark: 300 cubits, Breadth of the Ark: 50 cubits, Height of the Ark: 30 cubits
6:16 Make the Ark with three decks
6:17 God tells Noah that a flood will kill everything on Earth
6:18 But Noah and his family will be safe by God's covenant with Noah
6:19 Also a male-female of every living thing will be sound on the ark
6:20 Two of every animal will come to Noah and to be kept alive
6:21 God tells Noah to store every sort of food for the flood
6:22 Noah did everything that God commanded
7:1 God commands Noah and his family to enter the Ark
7:2 7 pairs of all clean animals are to be taken into the art and 1 pair of all unclean animals too.
7:3 7 pairs of the birds are also to be taken into the ark
7:4 The flood of rain for 40 days and 40 nights will come in 7 days and blot out all life on earth.
7:5 Noah did all that God commanded of him
7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came
- 7,169 years between Adam and Flood
7:7 Noah and his sons and his sons' wives went into the ark to be saved
7:8 The animals followed Noah into the ark
7:9 Male and female animals followed Noah
7:10 After 7 days, the flood came upon the earth
7:11 The fountains of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heaven were opened
7:12 Rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights
7:13 The flood began the day that Noah and his family entered the ark
7:14 The flood began the day that the animals entered the ark
7:15 Everything that was supposed to enter the ark went in according to its kind
7:16 The LORD shut them all in
7:17 The waters increased for 40 days and nights
7:18 The ark floated on the surface of the water
7:19 Even the mountains were covered by water
7:20 The mountains were covered then by 15 cubits deep
7:21 Everything on the earth died
7:22 Whatever had breath died
7:23 Only Noah and those who were with him survived
7:24 The waters were on the earth for 150 days
8:1 God remembered Noah and everything on the ark. He caused a wind to subside the waters.
8:2 The fountains of the deep were closed; the rain stopped
8:3 After 150 days the water had receded
8:4 The ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat.
8:5 After ten months the tops of the mountains were visible
8:6 Noah opened the window of the ark
8:7 He sent out a raven
8:8 Then he sent out a dove
8:9 The dove returned because it had nowhere to rest
8:10 After 7 days he sent the dove out again
8:11 It returned with an olive branch
8:12 He waited another 7 days and sent the dove out again, but it did not return
8:13 Noah removed the covering of the ark and found that it was dry on the surface
8:14 After another month the ground was fully dry
8:15 God spoke to Noah
8:16 God said to Noah take your family and leave the ark
8:17 God told him to release the animals so they could be fruitful and multiply
8:18 Noah left the ark with his family
8:19 Everything left the ark
8:20 Noah built an altar and made sacrifices to the LORD
8:21 Upon smelling the odor God vowed never to curse the ground again because of man or to destroy every living creature
- God says that the imagination of men's heart is evil from his youth
- God smelled and maybe anthropomorphic isn't as bad as it is expected
8:22 He promised that so long as the earth exists the seasons and day and night will not cease
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:2 He told them that every living creature will fear man and be delivered unto them
9:3 God gives them everything that exist as food
- The first condoning of meat-eating
9:4 God says not to eat flesh when it is still alive, no eating of blood
9:5 This is a sin that will require a reckoning
9:6 God warns that whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed because man is made in the image of God
9:7 God tells them to be fruitful and multiply the earth
9:8 God spoke to Noah and his sons
9:9 God establishes a covenant with them
9:10 God establishes a covenant with everything that came out of the ark
9:11 This covenant states that never again will God destroy the earth by flood
9:12 God gives them a sign of the covenant
9:13 The rainbow is the sign
9:14 When the rainbow is seen...
9:15 ... God will remember this covenant
9:16 It is an everlasting covenant between flesh and God
9:17 God tells Noah this is the sign of the covenant between God and all flesh that is on the earth
9:18 Shem, Ham and Japheth were the sons of Noah who got off the Ark. Ham was the father of Canaan.
9:19 From the sons of Noah the whole earth was peopled.
9:20 Noah tilled the soil and planted a vineyard
9:21 He drank wine and became drunk and laid naked in his tent
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers
- This may mean that he raped him. Is this true?
9:23 Shem and Japheth covered Noah without looking at him naked
9:24 Noah awoke and knew what Ham (his youngest) had done to him
9:25 Noah cursed Canaan: "a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers"
9:26 Noah blessed Shem and said let Canaan be his slave
9:27 Noah played that Japheth would prosper and that Canaan would also be his slave.
9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years
9:29 Noah lived 950 years
- Adam to the death of Noah: 7,519 years
10:1 The generations of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth
10:2 Sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Jovan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras
10:3 Sons of Gomer: Ash, Kenaz, Riphath and Togar'mah
10:4 Sons of Javan: Eli'shah, Tarshish, Kittim and Do'danim
10:5 Japheth - They have their own lands, their own language and their own nations
10:6 Sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan
10:7 Sons of Cush: Seba, Hav'ilah, Sabtah, Ra'amah and Sab'teca. Sons of Ra'amah: Sheba and Dedan
10:8 Cush became the father of Nimrod, Nimrod was the first mighty man
10:9 Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord
10:10 Nimrod's kingdom was Ba'bel, Erech, and Accad, all in the land of Shiner
10:11 From there Nimrod went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Reho'both-Ir and Calah
10:12 Rosen between Nineveh and Calah is a great city
10:13-13 Egypt became the Father of Ludim, An'amim, Leha'bim, Naph-tu'him, Pathru'sim, Caslu'him (where the Philistines force from) and Caph'torim
10:15 Canaan begat: Sidon and Heth
10:16-18 Canaan is the father of: the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hives, the Arkoites, the Simites, the Arlvadites, the Zem'arites, and the Ha'mathites. The families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
10:19 The territory of the Canaanites extends from Sidon to Gaza to Admah to Lasha
10:20 These are the sons of Ham
10:21 Shem is the father of all the children of Eber
10:22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpach'shad, Lud and Aram
10:23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash
10:24 Arpach'shad begat Shelah. Shellac begat Eber
10:25 Eber's sons: Peleg and Joktan
10:26-29 The sons of Joktan: Almo'dad, Sheleph, Hazarma'reth, Jerah, Hador'am, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abim'a-el, Sheba, Ophir, Hav'ilah and Jobab.
10:30 The sons of Joktan occupy the territory from Mesha to the hill country of the east
10:31 These are the sons of Shem
10:32 These are the descendants of Noah, according to their nations. These spread abroad the whole art after the flood.
Bliks & Other such things
(Originally written April 26, 2007 in Book 25)
Class Notes
Plantinga views this problem as a purely logical inconsistency. Thus, any coherent dissolving of the apparent inconsistency is sufficient. Plantinga uses transworld depravity to dissolve the inconsistency.
Verification principle: a sentence is only meaningful if and only if a sentence, in principle, is verifiable by empirical evidence.
Falsification: (Antony Flew) in order to be a meaningful statement, a statement must be, at least in principle, falsifiable.
God loves us as a Father loves his children. According to Flew this is a meaningless statement because we have many experiences that do not fit nicely with this statement.
The fact that believers allow nothing to count against God's love shows that their language is unfalsifiable and therefore, meaningless.
R. M. Hare
Blik - an unfalsifiable statement that is an assumption that you cannot change.
Hare asserts that Flew is correct on the grounds that he states, but has completely misunderstood religious language.
Hare asserts that when Christians hold that God loves us as a Father they are not making factual assertions, they are assuming bliks.
Basil Mitchell
The parable of the stranger: the leader of the resistance movement will sometimes be seen resisting and sometimes fighting against the resistance. We have to assume that no matter what, the stranger knows best.
Mitchell asserts that God loves us as a Father despite events that seem to contradict that statement.
Thus, what he believes is in principle, falsifiable. He simply does not allow the events to falsify his beliefs.
Mitchell concedes to Flew that believers normally do not allow evidence to falsify their beliefs, but they do feel the tension of the seeming inconsistency between evil and a loving God.
Class Notes
Plantinga views this problem as a purely logical inconsistency. Thus, any coherent dissolving of the apparent inconsistency is sufficient. Plantinga uses transworld depravity to dissolve the inconsistency.
Verification principle: a sentence is only meaningful if and only if a sentence, in principle, is verifiable by empirical evidence.
Falsification: (Antony Flew) in order to be a meaningful statement, a statement must be, at least in principle, falsifiable.
God loves us as a Father loves his children. According to Flew this is a meaningless statement because we have many experiences that do not fit nicely with this statement.
The fact that believers allow nothing to count against God's love shows that their language is unfalsifiable and therefore, meaningless.
R. M. Hare
Blik - an unfalsifiable statement that is an assumption that you cannot change.
Hare asserts that Flew is correct on the grounds that he states, but has completely misunderstood religious language.
Hare asserts that when Christians hold that God loves us as a Father they are not making factual assertions, they are assuming bliks.
Basil Mitchell
The parable of the stranger: the leader of the resistance movement will sometimes be seen resisting and sometimes fighting against the resistance. We have to assume that no matter what, the stranger knows best.
Mitchell asserts that God loves us as a Father despite events that seem to contradict that statement.
Thus, what he believes is in principle, falsifiable. He simply does not allow the events to falsify his beliefs.
Mitchell concedes to Flew that believers normally do not allow evidence to falsify their beliefs, but they do feel the tension of the seeming inconsistency between evil and a loving God.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Plantinga's transworld depravity
(Originally written April 24, 2007 in Book 25)
Class Notes
The Problem of Evil
God is all-Good
God wants to prevent evil
If there is evil then he can't
Therefore, God is not omnipotent
God is omnipotent
God can prevent evil
If there is evil then he doesn't want to prevent it
Therefore, God is not all-Good
There is no God that is both omnipotent and omni-benevolent
Marilyn McCord Adams
Horrendous evil and the goodness of God
Adams points out that the notion of an omnipotent and omni-benevolent eliminating all evil may be a strong perennial philosophical problem but that this notion is found nowhere in theistic beliefs.
1. God
2. Evil
The existence of God and the existence of evil are inconsistencies, not contradictions.
Inconsistency: both cannot be true, but both could be false
Contradictory - one is true, but both cannot be false. One must be true; one must be false.
1. There is an omniscient and omni-benevolent God
2. There is evil.
The inconsistency comes to play only if there is no way for both to be true, but there may be a way to show that both could be true.
Alvin Plantinga's Free-Will Defense
Logically it is always possible to reconcile inconsistencies
There must be a third proposition which is consistent with one and they jointly imply the other:
1. There is an omnipotent and omni-benevolent God
2. There is evil
3. An omnipotent and omni-benevolent Being gives us an unlimited supply of candy
Propositions one and three will lead to evil, but the inconsistency of propositions one and two is resolved.
Plantinga takes the extraordinary position that it does not matter if the resolving propositions is plausible or not, only that it is conceptually possible to resolve the inconsistency. Plantinga feels secure in knowing that the inconsistency is conceptually resolvable whereas most seek a plausible or true resolution of the inconsistency.
God created the best of all possible worlds
The best of all possible worlds contains evil.
The evil in the best of all possible worlds must enhance the total goodness.
World A is without evil and 10 to the 13th power merits.
World B has 10 to the 7th power terps of evil and 10 to the 18th power merits
Merits - measurement of goodness
Terps - measurement of evil (Plantinga)
World B (the world God creates) is better than world A because of Free Will.
Plantinga builds on Leibnizian principles.
Plantinga states Leibniz was right but forgot about something very vital. He calls it Leibniz's lapse. This is that God created the world but has not fully actualized it.
1. God created å (actual world)
2. God did not actualize the current state of affairs of å
World å was created by God, but not necessarily actualized by God
World W was created by God, but not actualized at all
If we have genuine freedom then God (although created the world) did not actualize the world.
W1 (Free Will but no evil). It is logically possible for a possible world to exist that possesses individuals with free will that never do evil.
Transworld depravity - depravity of man in all possible worlds because depravity is a part of man's essence.
No matter what logically possible world I am in I will misuse my free will in some manner.
Planting claims that all humans are under the curse of transworld depravity.
This makes W1 (the world with free will but no evil) logically impossible.
God exists and creates å and creates free beings
The free beings suffer from transworld depravity
Evil Exists
Therefore, there is no inconsistency because free beings misuse this free will to actualize evil.
Class Notes
The Problem of Evil
God is all-Good
God wants to prevent evil
If there is evil then he can't
Therefore, God is not omnipotent
God is omnipotent
God can prevent evil
If there is evil then he doesn't want to prevent it
Therefore, God is not all-Good
There is no God that is both omnipotent and omni-benevolent
Marilyn McCord Adams
Horrendous evil and the goodness of God
Adams points out that the notion of an omnipotent and omni-benevolent eliminating all evil may be a strong perennial philosophical problem but that this notion is found nowhere in theistic beliefs.
1. God
2. Evil
The existence of God and the existence of evil are inconsistencies, not contradictions.
Inconsistency: both cannot be true, but both could be false
Contradictory - one is true, but both cannot be false. One must be true; one must be false.
1. There is an omniscient and omni-benevolent God
2. There is evil.
The inconsistency comes to play only if there is no way for both to be true, but there may be a way to show that both could be true.
Alvin Plantinga's Free-Will Defense
Logically it is always possible to reconcile inconsistencies
There must be a third proposition which is consistent with one and they jointly imply the other:
1. There is an omnipotent and omni-benevolent God
2. There is evil
3. An omnipotent and omni-benevolent Being gives us an unlimited supply of candy
Propositions one and three will lead to evil, but the inconsistency of propositions one and two is resolved.
Plantinga takes the extraordinary position that it does not matter if the resolving propositions is plausible or not, only that it is conceptually possible to resolve the inconsistency. Plantinga feels secure in knowing that the inconsistency is conceptually resolvable whereas most seek a plausible or true resolution of the inconsistency.
God created the best of all possible worlds
The best of all possible worlds contains evil.
The evil in the best of all possible worlds must enhance the total goodness.
World A is without evil and 10 to the 13th power merits.
World B has 10 to the 7th power terps of evil and 10 to the 18th power merits
Merits - measurement of goodness
Terps - measurement of evil (Plantinga)
World B (the world God creates) is better than world A because of Free Will.
Plantinga builds on Leibnizian principles.
Plantinga states Leibniz was right but forgot about something very vital. He calls it Leibniz's lapse. This is that God created the world but has not fully actualized it.
1. God created å (actual world)
2. God did not actualize the current state of affairs of å
World å was created by God, but not necessarily actualized by God
World W was created by God, but not actualized at all
If we have genuine freedom then God (although created the world) did not actualize the world.
W1 (Free Will but no evil). It is logically possible for a possible world to exist that possesses individuals with free will that never do evil.
Transworld depravity - depravity of man in all possible worlds because depravity is a part of man's essence.
No matter what logically possible world I am in I will misuse my free will in some manner.
Planting claims that all humans are under the curse of transworld depravity.
This makes W1 (the world with free will but no evil) logically impossible.
God exists and creates å and creates free beings
The free beings suffer from transworld depravity
Evil Exists
Therefore, there is no inconsistency because free beings misuse this free will to actualize evil.
Class notes on Nature and Aesthetic Appreciation
(Originally written April 24, 2007 in Book 16)
Class Notes
Crawford - Nature & Art
"Dialectic"
Natural v. Artificial combine to make Aesthetic Appreciation
Carlson
How do you frame aspects of nature?
Problem of focus: What is the focus of our aesthetic appreciation of nature
1) Object of Art Model
2) Landscape or scenery model
3) Human Chauvinist Aesthetic
4) AOE
5) Natural Environment Model
Class Notes
Crawford - Nature & Art
"Dialectic"
Natural v. Artificial combine to make Aesthetic Appreciation
Carlson
How do you frame aspects of nature?
Problem of focus: What is the focus of our aesthetic appreciation of nature
1) Object of Art Model
2) Landscape or scenery model
3) Human Chauvinist Aesthetic
4) AOE
5) Natural Environment Model
Monday, April 23, 2007
Thoughtful Musings of an Atheist and my response.
(Originally written April 23, 2007)
In response to "Thoughtful Musings of an Atheist"
by Phillip Fiscella
Taylor Echo 4/20/2007
"Atheists are much more prevalent among those who have attainted higher education"
-What does this prove
Equivalence of religion and superstition - "Education and rational thought will usually erode superstition". Thus, all thinkers who are religious have been irrational.
Atheists are no worse ethically then theists. Doesn't this deny theism of guilt as well as atheism. What is the point here?
"Ethics seems to be more about maturity than religion". Obviously then Hitler, Stalin, etc. were immature.
"Frankly we're not seeking converts; we just want to be left alone."
Theism and Atheism cannot peacefully exist side-by-side. The tension between them will be an ever-waged war in the intellectual realm so long as both sides exist. Atheism may not have an evangelical approach for the generations of theists that exist here and now, but they are systematically eroding all theistic influence in education. It is about converting subsequent generations.
"I am uncomfortable with some of the teachings of the Bible, as any civilized person ought to be". "The horrible injustices" make sense only if you assume a universal objective standard of Justice.
If you do this then theism has already been exonerated from claims by atheisms by its internal inconsistency.
Fiscella article made me smile. A challenging piece in the Echo is not a usual find. That's not to say that the artless are not well-written or a slight on any letters to the editor, but its like reading a liberal article in Rush Limbaugh's newsletter. A theistic defense would take more space then any letter to the editor would allow, so I am going to simply point out three major problems with Fiscella article. First, the atheist employs as much (if not more) faith as the theist. Second, atheism and theism cannot peacefully co-exist. Thirdly, extracting tidbits of information from any source and taking them in isolation never solves or helps anything.
The major difference between atheism and theism (other than the obvious) is that theists acknowledge their faith while atheists use it while refusing to recognize it. Fiscella points out that the use of rational thought will erode superstition. If this is so, a number of things need to be pointed out.
First, how is it that only 7-9% of the people ins America are so rational to be non-superstitious. If 91-93% of the Americans had 7-9% had no sight we would claim that there was something wrong with the 7-9%, not the 91-93%. But, Fiscella is reversing the common sense argument. Also what about the vast majority of religious thinkers in the past? Are they all irrational now?
I am not normally a fan of common sense arguments because they are not strong so here is a much better point. Faith is not a facet of humanity that is opposed to rationality. Faith is not irrational; it is super rational. Faith exceeds, not opposes rationality. Atheists begin with grounds for not believing God.
Theists have grounds for belief in God. The jump from the grounds for belief to actual belief is faith. Atheists have the ground of disbelief because of the lack of empirically sensible evidence of God and the problem of evil. Theists have grounds for belief in God on numerous bases: mystical experience, rational argumentation, and the fact that if there is no God, how can there be anything?
The point here is this, atheists must have faith in their disbelief in God. They have rational grounds for this, but their faithless-ness is supranatural. Theists on the other hand, have grounds for their belief in God, which are rational and their faith is suprarational. The rational grounds for both are not equal and if we were to systematically break it down the grounds for belief in God are much more rational then grounds for disbelief.
My second point focuses on the statement, "Frankly, we're not seeking converts; we just want to be left alone". First, there are atheists that are evangelical. There are Christians that are not evangelical. Second, Atheism and Theism can have no peaceful coexistence.
Thankfully there is no war of guns between atheists and theists. But the battlefields between these mortal enemies exits nonetheless. The intellectual war between these two positions will be waged so long as there are theists and atheists. Neither side can live and let live. Theists, especially Christians are (or at least ought to be) working as missionaries. The missionary work of atheism is the systematic opposition of theism in education circles. Atheists seek to convert subsequent generations by subtraction. If Fiscella wanted to be "left alone" he would not have written a provocative letter to a Christian paper. The fact that he penned those words in this paper disproved his claim.
Lastly, Fiscella like many theists and atheists alike, isolates passages of the Old Testament to suit his purpose. This is deplorable showmanship. It is a straw man argument. It's misleading and purposefully deceiving. Christians adopt this mentality to condemn alcohol use, tattoos, swear words and a whole host of sins. Non-Christians use it to show the inconsistency of God. Both are deplorable, unacceptable and ought to be corrected immediately.
In closing, I would state that it is sad that some questions have caused someone to lose their faith. It is the true sign of human hubris that we expect to have solutions to all problems. It is also sad that massive self-deception/self-denial occurs is atheistic condemnation of faith. they condemn themselves alongside with those they see as "superstitious" and "uneducated". It is even more sad that this article by Fiscella is commonplace and regarded as intelligent and plausible at Christian and non-Christian circles.
In response to "Thoughtful Musings of an Atheist"
by Phillip Fiscella
Taylor Echo 4/20/2007
"Atheists are much more prevalent among those who have attainted higher education"
-What does this prove
Equivalence of religion and superstition - "Education and rational thought will usually erode superstition". Thus, all thinkers who are religious have been irrational.
Atheists are no worse ethically then theists. Doesn't this deny theism of guilt as well as atheism. What is the point here?
"Ethics seems to be more about maturity than religion". Obviously then Hitler, Stalin, etc. were immature.
"Frankly we're not seeking converts; we just want to be left alone."
Theism and Atheism cannot peacefully exist side-by-side. The tension between them will be an ever-waged war in the intellectual realm so long as both sides exist. Atheism may not have an evangelical approach for the generations of theists that exist here and now, but they are systematically eroding all theistic influence in education. It is about converting subsequent generations.
"I am uncomfortable with some of the teachings of the Bible, as any civilized person ought to be". "The horrible injustices" make sense only if you assume a universal objective standard of Justice.
If you do this then theism has already been exonerated from claims by atheisms by its internal inconsistency.
Fiscella article made me smile. A challenging piece in the Echo is not a usual find. That's not to say that the artless are not well-written or a slight on any letters to the editor, but its like reading a liberal article in Rush Limbaugh's newsletter. A theistic defense would take more space then any letter to the editor would allow, so I am going to simply point out three major problems with Fiscella article. First, the atheist employs as much (if not more) faith as the theist. Second, atheism and theism cannot peacefully co-exist. Thirdly, extracting tidbits of information from any source and taking them in isolation never solves or helps anything.
The major difference between atheism and theism (other than the obvious) is that theists acknowledge their faith while atheists use it while refusing to recognize it. Fiscella points out that the use of rational thought will erode superstition. If this is so, a number of things need to be pointed out.
First, how is it that only 7-9% of the people ins America are so rational to be non-superstitious. If 91-93% of the Americans had 7-9% had no sight we would claim that there was something wrong with the 7-9%, not the 91-93%. But, Fiscella is reversing the common sense argument. Also what about the vast majority of religious thinkers in the past? Are they all irrational now?
I am not normally a fan of common sense arguments because they are not strong so here is a much better point. Faith is not a facet of humanity that is opposed to rationality. Faith is not irrational; it is super rational. Faith exceeds, not opposes rationality. Atheists begin with grounds for not believing God.
Theists have grounds for belief in God. The jump from the grounds for belief to actual belief is faith. Atheists have the ground of disbelief because of the lack of empirically sensible evidence of God and the problem of evil. Theists have grounds for belief in God on numerous bases: mystical experience, rational argumentation, and the fact that if there is no God, how can there be anything?
The point here is this, atheists must have faith in their disbelief in God. They have rational grounds for this, but their faithless-ness is supranatural. Theists on the other hand, have grounds for their belief in God, which are rational and their faith is suprarational. The rational grounds for both are not equal and if we were to systematically break it down the grounds for belief in God are much more rational then grounds for disbelief.
My second point focuses on the statement, "Frankly, we're not seeking converts; we just want to be left alone". First, there are atheists that are evangelical. There are Christians that are not evangelical. Second, Atheism and Theism can have no peaceful coexistence.
Thankfully there is no war of guns between atheists and theists. But the battlefields between these mortal enemies exits nonetheless. The intellectual war between these two positions will be waged so long as there are theists and atheists. Neither side can live and let live. Theists, especially Christians are (or at least ought to be) working as missionaries. The missionary work of atheism is the systematic opposition of theism in education circles. Atheists seek to convert subsequent generations by subtraction. If Fiscella wanted to be "left alone" he would not have written a provocative letter to a Christian paper. The fact that he penned those words in this paper disproved his claim.
Lastly, Fiscella like many theists and atheists alike, isolates passages of the Old Testament to suit his purpose. This is deplorable showmanship. It is a straw man argument. It's misleading and purposefully deceiving. Christians adopt this mentality to condemn alcohol use, tattoos, swear words and a whole host of sins. Non-Christians use it to show the inconsistency of God. Both are deplorable, unacceptable and ought to be corrected immediately.
In closing, I would state that it is sad that some questions have caused someone to lose their faith. It is the true sign of human hubris that we expect to have solutions to all problems. It is also sad that massive self-deception/self-denial occurs is atheistic condemnation of faith. they condemn themselves alongside with those they see as "superstitious" and "uneducated". It is even more sad that this article by Fiscella is commonplace and regarded as intelligent and plausible at Christian and non-Christian circles.
Eschatology in various religions
(Originally written April 23, 2007 in Book 15)
Chapter 7: Eschatology & Hope for the Future
Time plays crucial and different roles in various religions.
A Geometry of Time
The modern secular view of time is entirely linear. Time is a sequence of moments.
Most believe that time had some origin (whatever they claim it to be), but others like the physicist Stephen Hawkins deny that time has a beginning or an end.
Conversely, the Western monotheistic religions believe time has both a beginning and an end. In addition Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism each have a mid point.
Pre-literate cultures believe that (according to Mircea Eliade) time was not linear, but circular. Time in our world mirrored the "time of the gods".
Eliade makes notice that as cultures move from preliterate to literate they drop the circular conception of, but not wholly. Anniversaries, holidays and birthdays are hold overs from circular time conceptions.
Eliade notes that archaic people (pre-Literates) have no hope or notion of the future. Likewise pure secularists have no hope for the future because they deny any telos (goal/end) for time.
Jainism's conception of time is divided into six ages and moves from best to worst then worst to best again.
Hinduism believes time is cyclical.
Buddhism also has a cyclical conception of time.
The Future in Traditional Religion
In African culture there are two modes of time:
1) Sasa - time of every day events
2) Zamani - Mythological time
People like in sass time. When they are born they are actualized into sass. When they die that actualization is completed and the process of de-actualization begins. As the ones who know them slowly die off the dead move further from the sasa into the zamani. Eventually they are engulfed in Zamani time.
Zamani gives purpose to sasa, but does not extend it.
The Christianization of Africa has taken two forms:
1) A traditional European style
2) A syncretism of traditional African religion and Christianity (independent churches).
The "independent churches" of Africa have adopted an eschatology, thus giving them hope for the future which traditional African conceptions of time denied them.
The Future in Western Religions
The future of Western Religions is tied into their messianic figures.
Judaism
Judaism had several messianic expectations by the time of Christ. Many the Messiah would liberate the Jews from Roman oppression and reestablish Israel.
The Essenes at Qumran expected at least two messiahs: a messianic king and a messianic priest.
The Saducees and the ruling priests might not have anticipated a messiah at all.
The messiah was expected to be human, but equal to God's first created being, the angel Metatron.
Also, the messiah would be the Son of David and heir to the throne.
The messiah would restore Israel politically and spiritually.
The messiah would liberate Jews from oppression.
Judaism has had a history of messianic pretenders. Bar Kokhba in the 2nd century and Sabbatai Zevi in the 17th century are the most notable two.
The Hasidic movement has shied away from claiming messianic status of their leaders and even opposed the creation of the modern state of Israel because they believed it was blasphemous to have Israel without a messianic king.
Reform Jews have given up the search for a Messiah.
Islam
Islam hopes for the Mahdi (the right guided one) as the last messenger of Allah.
The Mahdi is based on the Hadith, not the Qur'an.
The majority of Muslims are Sunni muslims and do not have a specific Mahdi theology.
The Shi'ite Muslims believe the Mahdi has a theological role.
Jesus Christ is the second most important prophet in Islam. Islam believes that Christ will return before the judgment and lead the faithful in prayer. But usually Jesus is not considered the Mahdi.
Shi'ite muslims claimed that the imams had the same spiritual authority as Muhammad. They have a super human standing.
The last imam to have this authority, according to the Shi'ites did not die, but went into hiding. He will return as the Mahdi.
Islam has had a number of Mahdi pretenders.
Umar II, one of the caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty was revered as the Mahdi for a while.
Mohammad Ahmad in the 19th century sought to overthrow the Ottoman Empire from Sudan. He claimed to be the Mahdi. His revolution was put down by the Turks, the British and a counter-Mahdi, Sanusi Al-Mahdi.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed to be the Mahdi, the second coming of Christ and an avatar of Krishna. There are two groups that follow his teaching still.
Baha'i began as an offshoot of Shi'ites.
The Bab claimed to be the Mahdi in 1844.
Baha'ullah declared himself to be the successor of the Bab and established Baha'i.
In the future another manifestation of God will follow if there needs to be one.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroaster is to be succeeded every 1,000 years by his direct descendants.
Three times, a thousand years apart, a virgin will bathe in the lake and become impersonated with his sperm.
Aushetar, Aushetar mah, and Saoshyant will be born as prophets like Zoroaster. Saoshyant will restore true religion and usher in the purification of all human beings.
Chapter 7: Eschatology & Hope for the Future
Time plays crucial and different roles in various religions.
A Geometry of Time
The modern secular view of time is entirely linear. Time is a sequence of moments.
Most believe that time had some origin (whatever they claim it to be), but others like the physicist Stephen Hawkins deny that time has a beginning or an end.
Conversely, the Western monotheistic religions believe time has both a beginning and an end. In addition Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism each have a mid point.
Pre-literate cultures believe that (according to Mircea Eliade) time was not linear, but circular. Time in our world mirrored the "time of the gods".
Eliade makes notice that as cultures move from preliterate to literate they drop the circular conception of, but not wholly. Anniversaries, holidays and birthdays are hold overs from circular time conceptions.
Eliade notes that archaic people (pre-Literates) have no hope or notion of the future. Likewise pure secularists have no hope for the future because they deny any telos (goal/end) for time.
Jainism's conception of time is divided into six ages and moves from best to worst then worst to best again.
Hinduism believes time is cyclical.
Buddhism also has a cyclical conception of time.
The Future in Traditional Religion
In African culture there are two modes of time:
1) Sasa - time of every day events
2) Zamani - Mythological time
People like in sass time. When they are born they are actualized into sass. When they die that actualization is completed and the process of de-actualization begins. As the ones who know them slowly die off the dead move further from the sasa into the zamani. Eventually they are engulfed in Zamani time.
Zamani gives purpose to sasa, but does not extend it.
The Christianization of Africa has taken two forms:
1) A traditional European style
2) A syncretism of traditional African religion and Christianity (independent churches).
The "independent churches" of Africa have adopted an eschatology, thus giving them hope for the future which traditional African conceptions of time denied them.
The Future in Western Religions
The future of Western Religions is tied into their messianic figures.
Judaism
Judaism had several messianic expectations by the time of Christ. Many the Messiah would liberate the Jews from Roman oppression and reestablish Israel.
The Essenes at Qumran expected at least two messiahs: a messianic king and a messianic priest.
The Saducees and the ruling priests might not have anticipated a messiah at all.
The messiah was expected to be human, but equal to God's first created being, the angel Metatron.
Also, the messiah would be the Son of David and heir to the throne.
The messiah would restore Israel politically and spiritually.
The messiah would liberate Jews from oppression.
Judaism has had a history of messianic pretenders. Bar Kokhba in the 2nd century and Sabbatai Zevi in the 17th century are the most notable two.
The Hasidic movement has shied away from claiming messianic status of their leaders and even opposed the creation of the modern state of Israel because they believed it was blasphemous to have Israel without a messianic king.
Reform Jews have given up the search for a Messiah.
Islam
Islam hopes for the Mahdi (the right guided one) as the last messenger of Allah.
The Mahdi is based on the Hadith, not the Qur'an.
The majority of Muslims are Sunni muslims and do not have a specific Mahdi theology.
The Shi'ite Muslims believe the Mahdi has a theological role.
Jesus Christ is the second most important prophet in Islam. Islam believes that Christ will return before the judgment and lead the faithful in prayer. But usually Jesus is not considered the Mahdi.
Shi'ite muslims claimed that the imams had the same spiritual authority as Muhammad. They have a super human standing.
The last imam to have this authority, according to the Shi'ites did not die, but went into hiding. He will return as the Mahdi.
Islam has had a number of Mahdi pretenders.
Umar II, one of the caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty was revered as the Mahdi for a while.
Mohammad Ahmad in the 19th century sought to overthrow the Ottoman Empire from Sudan. He claimed to be the Mahdi. His revolution was put down by the Turks, the British and a counter-Mahdi, Sanusi Al-Mahdi.
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed to be the Mahdi, the second coming of Christ and an avatar of Krishna. There are two groups that follow his teaching still.
Baha'i began as an offshoot of Shi'ites.
The Bab claimed to be the Mahdi in 1844.
Baha'ullah declared himself to be the successor of the Bab and established Baha'i.
In the future another manifestation of God will follow if there needs to be one.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroaster is to be succeeded every 1,000 years by his direct descendants.
Three times, a thousand years apart, a virgin will bathe in the lake and become impersonated with his sperm.
Aushetar, Aushetar mah, and Saoshyant will be born as prophets like Zoroaster. Saoshyant will restore true religion and usher in the purification of all human beings.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Salvation in Christianity
(Originally written April 22, 2007 in Book 15)
A Tapestry of Faiths
Win Corduan
Is Christianity alone true?
By asking if a religion is true we ask if it is as a whole true, not if it contains some truth.
Pluralism asserts that all truth claims made by all religions are equal.
Hick claims that those Christians who maintain exclusivist theologies must revise their thinking.
Hick's pluralism is however, completely wrongheaded. No religion teaches that it is one way of relating to the Real.
Most, if not all, religions make exclusive claims. This is another point where Hick's theory does not accurately describe religions.
Hick's theory is either false or arbitrary if it is based on data from religion it is obviously false. If it is not then it is simply arbitrary.
Hick also demands that religions, especially Christianity, rewrite themselves to fit his theory. This is absurd.
Rather than an aggressive form of pluralism like Hick's, William P. Alston postulates a more subtle form:
1) Christians basing their beliefs on their mystical experience of God are justified in holding there beliefs.
2) Adherents of different religions basing their beliefs on their mystical experience are justified in holding their beliefs.
3) There is no way of adjudicating between different belief systems.
4) All persons are entitled to their beliefs since their system is coherent and productive.
Alston's theory hinges on mystical experience alone. He ignores any other type of evidence.
There are two component in accepting a belief system as true:
1) Accepting the beliefs as true
2) Justification of the belief system
Some ways of justifying religious beliefs:
1) They are self-evident
2) based on experience
3) superiority of teaching, etc., etc.
Christians can find confirmation for the beliefs in:
1) General revelation and natural theology
2) Fundamental rationality of Christian beliefs (Plantinga's "warrant" or "proper function")
3) Historical and archeological evidence
4) Inner witness of the Holy Spirit
5) Experience of when God manifested himself
Mainly, Christians have grounds for their beliefs that correspond to reality.
Christianity as a belief system based on the New Testament must be either false or exclusively true.
To deny pluralism one must show that it is rational to believe that Christianity is exclusively true.
Establishing Grounds for Answers
The problem of evil has been posed as a loving God is incompatible with the circumstances of this world since the time of Hume. But, Marilyn McCord Adams made the excellent point that: "It does the atheologian no good to argue for the falsity of Christianity on the ground that the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, pleasure-maximizer is incompatible with a world such as ours, because Christians never believed that God was a pleasure-maximizer anyway" (Corduan, 156).
Christian theology must be firmly rooted and wholly based in Biblical revelation. One cannot abstract a specific principle and build from there (a common mistake).
Who is Definitely Saved?
In Old Testament theology those who are the people of God are saved by faith in God. These include the chosen people, converts to the chosen people (i.e. Ruth) and those who helped form the chosen people.
New Testament theology demands personal knowledge of the gospel as a prerequisite to salvation: How can we accept what he does not know?
In addition to knowing the Gospel, one must accept it as true and place trust in the atoning work of Christ.
The New Testament stress the need for missionary work.
The notion of implicit faith in Christ as a way of salvation is oxymoronic. Implicit faith makes as much sense as unfelt pain or inaudible speech.
However, all of these seemingly incoherent expressions are made coherent by mediation. Inaudible speech is made coherent by the usage of sign language. Sign language mediates the speech.
The sacrificial cultus of pre-Christ Jews was the meditation for implicit faith.
Who is Perhaps Saved Before Christ?
In the Old Testament the people of Israel are those who were saved. In the New Testament explicit faith in Christ and his atonement is the criterion for salvation.
To expand either of these criterions require that it is Biblically revealed, not what is merely fair or consistent.
Idolatry, under no circumstances can serve as the mediator in implicit faith. Thus, idolators are not saved.
C.S. Lewis claims that prayers made to false gods in earnest are heard by the true God. But, Lewis cannot substantiate this theory with Biblical evidence.
One argument for idolatry as a mediating device for implicit faith is the relationship of Abram and Melchizedek.
Melchizedek was the priest of El Elyon (God Most Hight) and Abram paid him a tithe for his blessing.
Clark Pinnock makes the claim that El Elyon and YHWH are equivalent. Corduan contends that rather than being equivalent deities, El Elyon and YHWH are identical, two names for the same deity.
This argument (Cordon's) makes sense because Hebrews 7's treatment of Melchizedek as the forerunner of Christ. If Melchizedek were some pagan priest, Hebrews 7 would make no sense.
Melchizedek and others (like Jethro, Moses' father-in-law) are saved by their implicit faith in Christ as mediated by their explicit faith in the God of original monotheism who is identical to the God of Old Testament Israel.
Who is perhaps saved after Christ?
The Jews were no longer saved by being a member of the chosen people because they rejected Christ. Thus, even if Gentiles were worshippers of the original monotheistic God and equivalent to Jews they are no longer saved.
In the New Testament men who worshipped the God of original monotheism were granted the opportunity to have explicit faith in Christ:
1) The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
2) Cornelius, the Roman Centurion (Acts 10)
3) The "God-fearing Greeks" (Acts 17:4)
4) Apollos (Acts 18:24-28)
5) The disciples of John the Baptist (Acts 19:1-6)
"Natural revelation does not save, but it provides the opportunity for the saving message to be sent to those who respond to it" (Corduan, 168).
Thomas Aquinas believed in this, "God will send the message" theory. Robertson McQuilken and Oliver Buswell also advocate this position.
Epistemologically - Is Christianity alone true?
Metaphysically: Do the effects of Christ's atonement extend only to those who believe in Him?
Yes! But, there is a small amount of room for implicit faith in pre-Christ times.
Ethically: Is a human being required to express faith in Christ in order to be eligible for salvation? Yes.
Subjectively: Is an implicit faith in Christ expressed in actions as valid as an explicit faith? Yes, only in pre-Christ times.
Theologically: Does God's saving love extend to those who do not know of Christ? Yes, but only within the further plan of God.
Socially: Are those who never heard of the gospel without hope of salvation? Yes, but God reaches out in the New Testament to those without limited with natural revelation and why would he stop this practice?
A Tapestry of Faiths
Win Corduan
Is Christianity alone true?
By asking if a religion is true we ask if it is as a whole true, not if it contains some truth.
Pluralism asserts that all truth claims made by all religions are equal.
Hick claims that those Christians who maintain exclusivist theologies must revise their thinking.
Hick's pluralism is however, completely wrongheaded. No religion teaches that it is one way of relating to the Real.
Most, if not all, religions make exclusive claims. This is another point where Hick's theory does not accurately describe religions.
Hick's theory is either false or arbitrary if it is based on data from religion it is obviously false. If it is not then it is simply arbitrary.
Hick also demands that religions, especially Christianity, rewrite themselves to fit his theory. This is absurd.
Rather than an aggressive form of pluralism like Hick's, William P. Alston postulates a more subtle form:
1) Christians basing their beliefs on their mystical experience of God are justified in holding there beliefs.
2) Adherents of different religions basing their beliefs on their mystical experience are justified in holding their beliefs.
3) There is no way of adjudicating between different belief systems.
4) All persons are entitled to their beliefs since their system is coherent and productive.
Alston's theory hinges on mystical experience alone. He ignores any other type of evidence.
There are two component in accepting a belief system as true:
1) Accepting the beliefs as true
2) Justification of the belief system
Some ways of justifying religious beliefs:
1) They are self-evident
2) based on experience
3) superiority of teaching, etc., etc.
Christians can find confirmation for the beliefs in:
1) General revelation and natural theology
2) Fundamental rationality of Christian beliefs (Plantinga's "warrant" or "proper function")
3) Historical and archeological evidence
4) Inner witness of the Holy Spirit
5) Experience of when God manifested himself
Mainly, Christians have grounds for their beliefs that correspond to reality.
Christianity as a belief system based on the New Testament must be either false or exclusively true.
To deny pluralism one must show that it is rational to believe that Christianity is exclusively true.
Establishing Grounds for Answers
The problem of evil has been posed as a loving God is incompatible with the circumstances of this world since the time of Hume. But, Marilyn McCord Adams made the excellent point that: "It does the atheologian no good to argue for the falsity of Christianity on the ground that the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, pleasure-maximizer is incompatible with a world such as ours, because Christians never believed that God was a pleasure-maximizer anyway" (Corduan, 156).
Christian theology must be firmly rooted and wholly based in Biblical revelation. One cannot abstract a specific principle and build from there (a common mistake).
Who is Definitely Saved?
In Old Testament theology those who are the people of God are saved by faith in God. These include the chosen people, converts to the chosen people (i.e. Ruth) and those who helped form the chosen people.
New Testament theology demands personal knowledge of the gospel as a prerequisite to salvation: How can we accept what he does not know?
In addition to knowing the Gospel, one must accept it as true and place trust in the atoning work of Christ.
The New Testament stress the need for missionary work.
The notion of implicit faith in Christ as a way of salvation is oxymoronic. Implicit faith makes as much sense as unfelt pain or inaudible speech.
However, all of these seemingly incoherent expressions are made coherent by mediation. Inaudible speech is made coherent by the usage of sign language. Sign language mediates the speech.
The sacrificial cultus of pre-Christ Jews was the meditation for implicit faith.
Who is Perhaps Saved Before Christ?
In the Old Testament the people of Israel are those who were saved. In the New Testament explicit faith in Christ and his atonement is the criterion for salvation.
To expand either of these criterions require that it is Biblically revealed, not what is merely fair or consistent.
Idolatry, under no circumstances can serve as the mediator in implicit faith. Thus, idolators are not saved.
C.S. Lewis claims that prayers made to false gods in earnest are heard by the true God. But, Lewis cannot substantiate this theory with Biblical evidence.
One argument for idolatry as a mediating device for implicit faith is the relationship of Abram and Melchizedek.
Melchizedek was the priest of El Elyon (God Most Hight) and Abram paid him a tithe for his blessing.
Clark Pinnock makes the claim that El Elyon and YHWH are equivalent. Corduan contends that rather than being equivalent deities, El Elyon and YHWH are identical, two names for the same deity.
This argument (Cordon's) makes sense because Hebrews 7's treatment of Melchizedek as the forerunner of Christ. If Melchizedek were some pagan priest, Hebrews 7 would make no sense.
Melchizedek and others (like Jethro, Moses' father-in-law) are saved by their implicit faith in Christ as mediated by their explicit faith in the God of original monotheism who is identical to the God of Old Testament Israel.
Who is perhaps saved after Christ?
The Jews were no longer saved by being a member of the chosen people because they rejected Christ. Thus, even if Gentiles were worshippers of the original monotheistic God and equivalent to Jews they are no longer saved.
In the New Testament men who worshipped the God of original monotheism were granted the opportunity to have explicit faith in Christ:
1) The Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
2) Cornelius, the Roman Centurion (Acts 10)
3) The "God-fearing Greeks" (Acts 17:4)
4) Apollos (Acts 18:24-28)
5) The disciples of John the Baptist (Acts 19:1-6)
"Natural revelation does not save, but it provides the opportunity for the saving message to be sent to those who respond to it" (Corduan, 168).
Thomas Aquinas believed in this, "God will send the message" theory. Robertson McQuilken and Oliver Buswell also advocate this position.
Epistemologically - Is Christianity alone true?
Metaphysically: Do the effects of Christ's atonement extend only to those who believe in Him?
Yes! But, there is a small amount of room for implicit faith in pre-Christ times.
Ethically: Is a human being required to express faith in Christ in order to be eligible for salvation? Yes.
Subjectively: Is an implicit faith in Christ expressed in actions as valid as an explicit faith? Yes, only in pre-Christ times.
Theologically: Does God's saving love extend to those who do not know of Christ? Yes, but only within the further plan of God.
Socially: Are those who never heard of the gospel without hope of salvation? Yes, but God reaches out in the New Testament to those without limited with natural revelation and why would he stop this practice?
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