OK. I am not losing faith anymore than yesterday but I am having a hard time coming to grips with some things. My main issue is 1 Sam 15:3 I will quote from KJV for all you KJV onlyists Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
OK now why would God literally tell Saul to go smite their ass. I am struggling badly with this and have a few theories:
1) We dont know what the Amalekites may have done. But somehow punishing people for sins that were 400 years old dont seem right. That would be like God smiting me for the sins of Martin Luther.
2)Maybe God didnt really say this. Maybe the people made it up to justify their war. Something like GW Bush would do
3) Maybe there is some deep meaning I am just too stupid to understand as a human.
Why would God who is love (and I beleive that with all my heart) tell Israel (who wasnt exactly a godly nation anymore) to commit genocide on a bunch of Amalekites and their asses (donkeys) for somethign their great great great great great grandpas did.
I really really really want to come to terms with this and have some peace. Please help.
My prayer right now is Lord, I believe, please help my unbelief.
I see some of what I used to consider unquestionable spirally apart. I dont want to fall away. I am scared and confused at the same time. Yet deep in my heart I know Jesus is real. I even have the horrible thought in my mind what if the gnostics were right and Jesus daddy wasnt the same God as the OT.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Have you ever taken a good look at Ryrie's Bible dispensations? I have found his analysis of the course of human history in relation to God very helpful in understanding the connection between the "eye for an eye" God and the "love your enemies" God. Basically, dispensationalism (I hate these "isms" that suck the meaning out of everything!) looks at God's dealing with us in stages. He begins at Adam, revealing different aspects of himself at each stage as human choices for sin up the ante, culminating at the giving of his son and looking forward to the final age of this earth's history when Jesus Christ will reign on the earth.
But I encourage you to ask God for his answers. It takes far more faith to ask the question than it does to pretend the question doesn't exist. You have stepped out, but that doesn't mean you've left faith behind. It may mean you've only just stepped in.
losing faith doesn't mean letting go of strongly held beliefs, having faith means having the response-ability to know what is right and best even when the situation is ambiguous at best and against the social grain at worst.
would it help to think of god not as some separate entity, but as a manifestation of all the beautiful energy and phenomena, the entirety of the universe, especially the parts that don't make any sense to us at all?
Suddenly this question becomes less important to me. It really doesnt change my faith at all.
I need to try to articulate what I believe but I think this is a theological meltdown and not a faith meltdown. TKN made an EXCELLENT point.
I get struggles about questioning things as well. I believe it might be due to many Christians or "the church". Be happy, and don't question anything. If we do this, God will be well pleased. I DON'T THINK SO!! I think questioning our beliefs helps us grow in the Lord. People's theology needs to be shaken in order for it to be solid. Does that make sense?
Post a Comment