I know it's late to get this in for this morning's discussion of the Testaments, but I wanted to post the following links anyway for those of you who want to go back and read some more.
This is an article by Crystal Lutton, mother, pastor and author of Grace-Based Living and Biblical Parenting. Her response to the difficulties we find with the Old Testament Bible stories attempts to shed light on the cultural and spiritual context of those stories:
Atrocity in the OT
Ms. Lutton wrote her article as part of a continuing online discussion of the blog article by Rachel Held-Evans:
The Scandal of the Evangelical Heart
I especially liked these lines: I think it’s important to remember that within the stories there is a lot going on. There are some people who went off on their own, there are some people who did not behave in righteous ways, there are some people who blundered it, and there are some things that it’s okay to sit down at the end of the day and say, “I just don’t understand.” But when we condemn, we are saying we DO understand. When we pass judgment we are making very big statements about things we have limited perspective on.
ReplyDeleteHow powerful to say that when we condemn, we are saying we DO understand.
Oh, and that Rachel Held Evans blog post... That was just great! Spoke to so many things I've wondered...
ReplyDeleteI thought this section was especially powerful:
“But genocide always bothers me,” I finally said, “especially when it’s in the Bible. And I get the idea that maybe it’s supposed to. I get the idea that maybe God created me to be bothered by evil like that, even when it’s said to have been orchestrated by God.”
I’m not sure he and I will ever understand one another, but I’ve decided to quit apologizing for my questions.