To: gregor who wrote (174 ) 11/20/1997 4:15:00 PM From: Cisco Read Replies (4) | Respond to
Greetings gregor,I would suggest that its not God's nature which has changed, but God's people's understanding of God's nature which has changed. When I first read the Old testament from a literal point of view as a teen, I found a God I could not respect or worship. I found a God who supported the beating of slaves as long as they didn't die. (Ex. 21:20) I found a God who ordered Parents to execute their children if they curse them. (Ex. 21:17) I found a God who ordered the destruction of nations and the plunder of their wealth. (Num 31:1-12) I found a God that condoned the killing of all the children except for the virgin girls who the soldiers were to save for their own use. (Num. 31:17-18) I could continue for hours, but I think you see the point I am making.verbal " view of inspiration and adopted what is known as the "dynamic " view of inspiration. Clifton J. Allen in describing the view of dynamic inspiration stated: "a dynamic view of inspiration is not dependent on a mystical, inexplicable, and unverifiable inerrancy in every word of Scripture or on the concept that inspiration can allow no error of fact or substance. Rather, it accepts the Bible in wholeness and unity as inspired: inerrant as the only completely authentic witness to God's self-revelation in Christ and his salvation through Christ; inerrant because its truth is the perfect instrument of the Spirit to bring men to faith and righteousness and hope; and inerrant because its teaching, interpreted by the life and work of Christ, is the infallible guide as to how the people of God ought to live and what they can surely believe under the leading of the Spirit of Christ. Would you agree that somehow through the ages and through the dispensations and through the prophets and the law that God has kept the playing field level? I believe that God deals with each person at the level of their understanding. To whom much is given, much is required! Luke 13:47-48 says: "that servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. " (NIV)Doesn't the 11th Chapter Hebrews make the case that for those who were faithful to the knowledge they had, God was was proud to be "called their God "? (Heb. 11:16) The list reads like the list of who's who of the Old Testament starting with Abel. The writer goes on to say that "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. " (Heb. 11:39-40) Note that they are included at the "Final Arrival": "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteours men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.Who are these other sheep? Are they only the Gentiles? Could they be the Baptists or the Pentecostals? Could they be the Native American Indian who worshiped their God of creation long before the Gospel reached these shores? Could it even possibly be the followers of other world religions? I don't know!What I do know is that God has given me only one Gospel to take forth as a Christian and it is the saving grace of Jesus Christ. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. "
