Oprah, I am both encouraged and concerned by what you say. Yes, God is huge- eternal and omnipresent; and he does want us to know him. However, saying that you don’t think Jesus came to start Christianity could be interpreted in different ways. It is true that Jesus did not come to raise up a bunch of religious people. He already had that in the Pharisees, who clearly did not please him. However, if you don’t think he wanted to establish Christians (i.e. followers of Christ), I disagree. The attributes you like about God are biblical, but so are the ones you don’t like.
God will not change himself to correspond to an individual’s ideas. One might say that Jesus works for him, but he doesn’t think Jesus should be the only way; or that God shouldn’t be jealous- i.e. a God who doesn’t want anyone or anything else to be worshiped. But you must admit that if God is truly eternal and sovereign, he should be jealous! We all belong to him! It would be meaningless to say that he loves us if he is not jealous when we worship something else.
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ReplyDeleteBut isn't this idea of jealousy just a western notion, placed into God's character list from human writers?
ReplyDeleteOprah's Advocate
I think you might recall that this attribute of God has been mentioned repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. Specifically, Moses received these words directly from God on Mt. Sinai: "... you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..."
ReplyDeleteNow, let's assume that something from the bible is unreliable- i.e. man-made. Maybe Moses just made this up. If that is the case, how can we rely on anything from the bible?
The above verse is Exodus 20:5
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