Is God 'In Control'? | N.T. Wright Online
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- Is God in control? If so, is God a 'micromanager' of our every thought and action?
In this video, Prof. N.T. Wright insists that we must reframe the idea of control, and God's role in history, in light of the story of Jesus.
Consider how a God can lament, weep, and even be crucified in this fascinating Q&A session from Part One of our course on History and Eschatology, Knowing God in the Created World.
For hundreds of years, people have wondered what we can know about God based on the evidence of the world in which we live. Theologians and philosophers have pondered this question under the name of Natural Theology, with greater or lesser success.
Prof. N.T. Wright asserts that to answer this question with fidelity requires putting Jesus back in the middle of the question. The line of thought explored in this course seeks to do just that, through a thoroughgoing investigation into modern Western attitudes about history and its validity as a domain of inquiry.
The result being that in learning something about God we might also learn a thing or two about our knowledge of the natural world, and about the nature of our knowledge.
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Thank you, professor. in this day of aggressive Calvinists, it is so refreshing to hear of a better, more subtle and beautiful kind of sovereign control.
Dear Jesus please help me with the fear and worry I am dealing with. I won’t believe the lies of the enemy. I will make it through this hard time. I have two beautiful boys both are autistic and non verbal. I’m so overwhelmed at times. My husband passed away years ago. So I’m all alone. I have no family to lean on. I lost my job over declining the vaccine. I declined due to my pre existing health conditions lupus and heart disease. I’ve been struggling to provide for myself and my children since losing my job from Forsyth hospital. Every month is a battle to not end up on the streets with my two children. I’m constantly in fear of losing our home. To even think about being on the streets with two young children is terrifying. But even as I face homelessness seemingly every month. I have faith, God will provide. HE HAS THIS FAR! FAITH IS ALL I NEED. Faith over fear. THANK YOU JESUS! I BELIEVE God will provide. Spreading Love is what Jesus taught. ❤️ I LOVE you JESUS
Thank you for sharing with us. Sometimes it can be hard to know how to respond, or to find the words to say in the face of such difficulties. We're here, and grateful we can share in community that nurtures and contines to grow in faith together. We thank you for the reminder of God's faithfulness that you shared.
He helps me love God.
I'm so grateful for these lessons being available online.
We're glad you're enjoying them!
Little close to embrace calvinism, but taking a pause and making a real reflection on the meaning of "control" now I know a better way to understand GOd's Will. Thanks a lot dear Professor, greetings from Bolivia, South America.
We appreciate hearts like yours. Blessings as you continue to seek understanding of God and his character. --NTW Online Team
After listening to you, I'm always a bit more careful about my language. Thanks Prof. Wright!
God is in control.
3:07 "After all, one of the things which is quite extraordinary about the New Testament's incarnational theology... is that this incarnate God weeps. He weeps at the tomb of his friend in John 11. He weeps over Jerusalem in John 19. What is this about? Is his weeping somehow controlling the situation? No, it is lamenting over the situation. Jesus knows what he is going to do next, but he still laments. Somehow we have to build into our picture of God this sense of lament..." Wow, love that last sentence!
I'm so enriched by the thoughts you share. My journey, has just begun🙏
Profound and magnificent!
We're so glad you joined us! Your perspective will bless those you share it with. --NTW Online Team
Free will. We inherently know right from wrong whether our parents taught us or not. It’s called conscience which God created in us before our birth.
yep... I am definitely rocked back on my heals by this one! basically then love is the ultimate expression of God's sovereignty, NOT control... these were really great points!
It is so important to consider our trite reassurances that "God's in control" in light of the Scriptures God has given us to reveal Himself to us! Look at Genesis... in Gen 1, God tells us He saw everything He made was "good" and then by Gen 6:5-6 , God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and *_it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart!!!_* that is quite an argument against God being in control (as a puppet master) of all details!.. Obviously, there is something else going on with mankind that shifted from God's creating everything good and everything then becoming NOT GOOD.....the POWER of the control God has given to man to make choices to EITHER love/obey or disobey HIM!
Jesus weeping over the choices Jerusalem made to be a desolate house is another consideration we can not neglect from Scripture where God gave "control" of the consequences to obey or disobey Him. (Matt 23:37-38)!
and what a GREAT point that Jesus corrects our earthly understanding the heavenly kingdom's definition of sovereignty NOT being about meticulous determinate control!!! when He clarifies that unlike_ the nations who do exercise control as the expression of their "sovereignty", Jesus instructs us that LOVE is ultimate expression of sovereignty, Jesus obliterates that earthly model by His humble submission to God's will, laying down His life as the ultimate expression of selfless LOVE "whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all for even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:43-45)
Wow!
We serve an amazing God!
Thanks for sharing! Thinking about reflecting God's will into the world as an expression of love and genuine human possibility is a helpful way to nuance how we often think about control and power. What do other's think?
Yes, only if we have burden of responsibility without heaviness on our shoulders bearing HIS Burden of Matthew 11:28-30……sometime we need to rest in HIM out of this heavy responsible world 🌍.
I was taught God was in control and if you had faith and prayed God would heal. So when our twenty four year old daughter died ,a devout Christian I was not only full of grief but also angry with the Church and angry with God for years and then one Good Friday I really looked at Jesus on the cross, at His suffering because He loved us and my anger disappeared and my relationship with God was restored, deepened. I understood and repented of my anger.I still grieve the loss of my beloved child but I know God is with me in it .
@@janmanning3092 Romans 5 2 says we glory in tribulation bc tribulation works patience and patience, experience; and experience, hope:
and hope makes us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.
Having the Holy Spirit shine through and comfort us is the only way to get through a loss like yours. I am glad you are drawing closer to God.
Great thoughts! God bless you Professor Wright! I would love to hear you in person again.
A beautiful reflection. The concept of God weeping, lamenting, cuts me to the quick.
Indeed, our God who is able to relate to us personally and sympathize with our weaknesses.
It is a great JOY to have stumbled into your wise discourses. You are enriching my spiritual journey.
We're glad you're here!
The Cross redefined How God control the creation.
Thanks 🙏
I'm doing ministry here in Thailand and I certainly am thankful for the teachings of N.T. Wright!
We're glad you're here!
@@NTWrightOnline Wow....what an amazing gift to see you responded. Are you planning on being around SE Asia anytime soon? Or stateside? I will be in the states from September of 2023 till January 2024. Would love to go to a conference. Grace and peace.😃
We are not aware of any plans to be in SE Asia. There will be more information about an upcoming conference in US (Texas) in June. Sorry, looks like we'll miss seeing you there.
@@NTWrightOnline Thanks for the response, LORD bless you and your ministry!
Thank you for this definition of control. I totally agree .
Wisdom! Thanks, professor Wright!
Thank you, SO good......
Thank you Prof Wright. Well explained. “Jesus wept”, I always felt exactly what you said there but couldn’t articulate it as you have done. Many thanks
We are glad to hear the message resonated. The idea of building in a sense of lament in our view of the world is something we're learning to do together
"How God Became King in 6 minutes" (I've been re-reading it!)
Yes! That's another way of saying it!
Beautiful!❤
Thank you! I've always been troubled by that phrase/idea.
Determinism is being preached from several fronts these days. Scientific Calvinism is affirmed by the post-quantum physics crowd. Everything can be reduced to differential equations. Brother Wright does a good job here looking at the loaded connotations of this mantra of everyone from AA to whatever--"God is in control." Perhaps all we need to do to correct this view is say, "God is in loving mastery." But without looking at Christ, we have no real vision of "God," for "He is the very image of the unseen God."
And around 4:53 N. T. goes to just the right verse in the N.T.--"The Gentiles like to lord their dominion over each other. But it shall not be that way with you..."
Amen! The Lord Jesus' words in Matt 20:20-28, Mark 10:35-45, Luke 22:24-27, John 13:1-17 absolutely obliterate and *_chastise_* the carnality of the Calvinist notion that the meticulous control of determinism is the expression of God's sovereignty....in fact God's LOVE is the ultimate expression of HIS SOVEREIGNTY!!!!.... That's the entire point of of Jesus' message: HIS laying down His LIFE in humble submission to the Father's will, in service and love of others, is the TRUE EXPRESSION of GOD's SOVEREIGNTY! I'm surprised I didn't catch Jesus' rebuke of Calvinism's gentile view of "lordship" until now!!!
@@inTruthbyGrace Oh amen, my friend. While it's certainly true to say God is sovereign, it's such a touchstone of Calvinism to do so that I've had to come to the position of objecting to the very words "sovereign" and "sovereignty." I'm afraid, when I looked into it, it became clear that it was an Enlightenment notion, this "sovereignty" of God, and what we know of the word is that it is laden with oodles of connotation and not much in the way of denotation.
Outside of Calvinism, this word, which is borrowed nearly verbatim from the French, always is used in legal or political sense, as in sovereign nation-states. You'll see it in UN papers and Admiralty law and so forth.
The biblical word is "almighty, all-powerful," Greek: "pantokrator" (Strong's Greek 3481):
biblehub.com/greek/3841.htm
In case anyone thinks this is splitting hairs, we could say:
God is super-sovereign, king of kings, Lord OF Lords.
It's therefore disingenuous. They are in fact downplaying God's power. He becomes something of a demiurge.
The first usage in English is Milton's Paradise Lost, where it is spelled "sovran." And we know Milton was a staunch Puritan who supported Cromwell.
We could go on, noting that all worldly sovereigns are limited by their domain and it's borders. Within them, they can be fairly autocratic.
Calvinism applies similar guardrails to both human will and divine will. God is unable to thwart the entrenched sinful nature, since He ordained it "before time began."
The paradoxes abound. And frankly they're a tedious knot to untie.
But thanks for noting the pagan flavor of the concept, and I don't think you're wrong a bit.
And finally, this sovereignty, as you hint at, is of a strictly unitarian flavor, as the three members of the Godhead are mutually submitted in love and obedience.
May revelation, joy, peace, saintliness*, ministerial success and every good work and thing continue to abound to you and your household of faith according to the promise:
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your house."
*sanctity? holiness? humility and grace?
Thank you, very well said !
wow. this is fantasic
Is God in control is like asking 'Is Love in control'? The long-term answer is yes, because Love never fails. But short term, Love is patient so different things could happen in between. But while being patient, we should look for Love's kindness. My bet is that God's kindness is present somewhere in midst of our daily struggles, no matter how bad things get.
Yes, and present with us always by the Spirit.
These words changes the way I have been thinking since I was a child. I understand now. God allows me the space to be human and he helps me tap into His wisdom to solve the issues in my life. I’m not His puppet😅❤
Thanks for sharing! Was there something in particular that changed your way of thinking in this area?
Is God in total control of the position, trajectory, spin, speed, mass and energy of every subatomic particle in the universe?
I asked that question of a Protestant minister who was talking about "God is in control". I received no answer. So, when I have questions like this I ask Catholic Priests or Bishops who will provide answers, because they like tough questions.
Dr. Wright, do you think we can influence God through our prayers? On His purposes and plans? And can He change His mind? There are so many places in the Old Testament where He changed His plans through prayer, what do you think about that ?
Thank you for your question! While Dr. Wright doesn't personally monitor this channel, he has shared insightful reflections on prayers in many of his videos. You might find this one helpful: czcams.com/video/bF2HrseL0gs/video.html. Feel free to explore more of our content for deeper insights into this topic! What are your thoughts on the role of prayer in influencing God's purposes and plans?
--NTW Online Team
Isaiah 45:5-7???
Just because Jesus cried at the tomb of Lazarus doesn’t mean he was wasn’t in control of the situation. God is in control in one sense but also gives human beings the freedom to make their own choices. Death, as we know, is a result of humans’ bad choices.. aka sin. It was the results of sin that Jesus was lamenting at the grave, not his inability to prevent that circumstance. I think you could have made a distinction between God allowing certain things to occur in the world and His ability to move in his creation with complete power and authority.
N.T. Wright's argument wasn't "because Jesus cried at the tomb of Lazarus he wasn't in control." Rather, the argument was about in what way is God "in control." i.e. we are not to lord it over people like the Gentiles were doing. Rather we are to love and serve like Jesus did. What does it look like for God to "move in His creation with complete power and authority?" What does this mean specifically to you?
It's strange that he didn't feel the need to address Isaiah 45:7 & 46:9, Eph 1:11 (+ Romans 8:28), Matt 10:29, or James 4:13-15 in this answer. When someone does claim that God "controls" all things, they are usually referring to what these verses collectively allude to.
The "many" is EVERYONE!
Adam condemned ALL. Jesus justifies ALL (the exact same ALL that Adam condemned/damned, Jesus justifies/vivifies)!
Jesus really was victorious!
I don't need a degree or a plaque on my wall to understand this!
So you're a Universalist?
@@jonathanfreeman777 Yes, essentially
@@jasonegeland1446 Then why does Jesus say "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."? And why does Paul say in Romans 10:9-10 "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."? Both of these passages make it quite clear that we have believe and confess in order to "be saved" or "have eternal life." Jesus' sacrifice provided the means for our salvation, but unless you accept his sacrifice, your sins haven't been forgiven.
@@skatter44 No sir. We don't do anything to be saved. That's not what it's about. Jesus Christ didn't "provide the means to be saved". He provided our salvation, period.
Nothing we do changes this outcome. All are conciliated to God through his son, Christ Jesus. Anything else we think we need to do becomes a work, thus detracting from Christ's accomplished work (his work, not ours!) on the cross. Religion says that wasn't enough, that we must make his atonement more secure by appeasing God and doing our own special deeds but this is FALSE! All knees bowing and confessing (in Greek it means joyfully praising) In the end isn't a forced submission, it's absolute surrender to the origin of love. It's justice isn't cruelty without end like a blood thirsty tyrant, It's justice through healing and restoration. This is what a true loving parent does. Anything else isn't God (the purest love possible) but a hateful, depraved, unstable, capricious, and limited being.
@@jasonegeland1446 "Anything else we think we need to do becomes a work,"
Accepting a free gift is not a work. I do no work when I accept what Jesus did on the cross. I am not trying to appease God by accepting His free gift. But accept it I must or else I do not get eternal life. The passages I quoted make that clear.
So what do you do with the end of Matthew 25:31-46? Especially v 46. "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." The word 'eternal' is the exact same word in the Greek, 'Aionios' which means without end, never to cease.
*The Enuma Elish would later be the inspiration for the Hebrew scribes who created the text now known as the biblical Book of Genesis.* Prior to the 19th century CE, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and its narratives were thought to be completely original. In the mid-19th century CE, however, European museums, as well as academic and religious institutions, sponsored excavations in Mesopotamia to find physical evidence for historical corroboration of the stories in the Bible. ***These excavations found quite the opposite, however, in that, once cuneiform was translated, it was understood that a number of biblical narratives were Mesopotamian in origin.***
*Famous stories such as the Fall of Man and the Great Flood were originally conceived and written down in Sumer,* translated and modified later in Babylon, and reworked by the Assyrians ***before they were used by the Hebrew scribes for the versions which appear in the Bible.***
***In revising the Mesopotamian creation story for their own ends, the Hebrew scribes tightened the narrative and the focus but retained the concept of the all-powerful deity who brings order from chaos.*** Marduk, in the Enuma Elish, establishes the recognizable order of the world - *just as God does in the Genesis tale* - and human beings are expected to recognize this great gift and honor the deity through service.
Google *"Enuma Elish - The Babylonian Epic of Creation - Full Text - World History Encyclopedia"*
Also discussed by Professor Christine Hayes at Yale University in her 1st lecture of the series on the Hebrew Bible from 8:50 to 14:30 minutes, lecture 3 from 28:30 to 41:35 minutes, lecture 4 from 0:00 up to 21:30 minutes and 24:00 up to 35:30 minutes and lecture 7 from 24:20 to 25:10 minutes.
From a Biblical scholar:
"Many stories in the ancient world have their origins in other stories and were borrowed and modified from other or earlier peoples. *For instance, many of the stories now preserved in the Bible are* ***modified*** *versions of stories that existed in the cultures and traditions of Israel’s* ***older*** *contemporaries.* Stories about the creation of the universe, a cataclysmic universal flood, digging wells as land markers, the naming of important cultic sites, gods giving laws to their people, and even stories about gods decreeing the possession of land to their people were all part of the cultural and literary matrix of the ancient Near East. *Biblical scribes freely* ***adopted and modified*** *these stories as a means to express their own identity, origins, and customs."*
*"Stories from the Bible"* by Dr Steven DiMattei, from his website *"Biblical Contradictions"*
------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, look up the below articles.
*"Debunking the Devil - Michael A. Sherlock (Author)"*
*"The Greatest Trick Religion Ever Pulled: Convincing Us That Satan Exists | Atheomedy"*
*"Zoroastrianism And Persian Mythology: The Foundation Of Belief"*
(Scroll to the last section: Zoroastrianism is the Foundation of Western Belief)
*"10 Ways The Bible Was Influenced By Other Religions - Listverse"*
*"January | 2014 | Atheomedy"* - Where the Hell Did the Idea of Hell Come From?
Watch *"The Origins of Salvation, Judgement and Hell"* by Derreck Bennett at Atheologica
(Sensitive theists should only watch from 7:00 to 17:30 minutes as evangelical Christians are lambasted. He's a former theist and has been studying the scholarship and comparative religions for over 15 years)
*"Top Ten Reasons Noah’s Flood is Mythology - The Sensuous Curmudgeon"*
*"The Adam and Eve myth - News24"*
*"Are The Ten Commandments Based On The Forty-Two Principles Of Maat That Appeared 2,000 Years Earlier? - Ancient Pages"*
*"Before Adam and Eve - Psychology Today"*
*"Gilgamesh vs. Noah - Wordpress"*
*"No, Humans Are Probably Not All Descended From A Single Couple Who Lived 200,000 Years Ago"*
*"Adam & Eve: Theologians Try to Reconcile Science and Fail - The New Republic"*
*"Adam and Eve: the ultimate standoff between science and faith (and a contest!) - Why Evolution Is True"*
*"Bogus accommodationism: The return of Adam and Eve as real people, as proposed by a wonky quasi-scientific theory - Why Evolution Is True"*
*"How many scientists question evolution? - **sciencemeetsreligion.org**"*
*"What is the evidence for evolution? - Common-questions - BioLogos"*
(A Christian organisation)
*"Why scientists dismiss 'intelligent design' - Science"*
*"Old Testament Tales Were Stolen From Other Cultures - Griffin"*
*"Parallelism between “The Hymn to Aten” and Psalm 104 - Project Augustine"*
*"Studying the Bible"* - by Dr Steven DiMattei
(This particular article from a critical Biblical scholar highlights how the authors of the Hebrew Bible used their *fictional* god as a mouthpiece for their own views and ideologies)
*"How do we know that the biblical writers were* ***not*** *writing history?"* -- by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Contradictions in the Bible | Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them"* -- by Dr. Steven DiMattei
*Let's briefly run through the 'ten plagues':*
First the rivers are turned to blood, all the fish die and the waters stink. No one has any water to drink. This lasted for seven days and would have resulted in mass deaths due to dehydration. Amongst the first to die would have been the children. *The author doesn't think to explain how the Hebrews were saved from this. No record of it was made anywhere in any Egyptian records.* Exodus 7:17-25.
This is followed by a plague of frogs which had somehow survived the rivers of blood that had killed all the fish. A mere inconvenience, nothing more, and a big stink when they all died, *but no record anywhere.* Exodus 8:2-13.
Next we have the plague of lice about which very little is said *and of course no record was made.* To a people who would have been accustomed to lice this would probably have been nothing remarkable. Exodus 8:16-18.
Then the flies. Apart from the land being 'corrupted', whatever that means, there don't appear to have been any ill effects from this and they disappear as quickly as they came a few days later. *Nothing worth recording there, obviously.* Exodus 8:21-31.
Now the author seems to begin to lose the plot and describes a 'grievous murrain' *which kills all the Egyptians' cattle, horses, camels and sheep.* ***They all died - hold that thought.*** *No Egyptian historian or keeper of official records deems it worthy of mention.* Exodus 9:3-6.
Next come the boils which afflict everyone and everything, including all the livestock ***even though they had been killed by the 'grievous murrain' a few days earlier,*** *apparently, and yet no-one thought to write anything down anywhere.* Of course, anyone who understood anything about microorganisms and the aeteology of boils would have described this as an infestation with Staphylococcus - the signs of faecal contamination - but the author was obviously unaware of these. Maybe he was just in too much of a muddle by now to care. Exodus 9:8-11.
Now it's hailstones so bad that every plant, every tree, every servant (for servant read slave) ***and even the livestock (that our story-teller has forgotten already that he killed off in the fifth plague before given them boils in the sixth) were harmed.*** It looks like our story-teller has learned from his earlier silly mistake with killing all the livestock too soon then having to resurrect them later. He mentions that some plants survive. Do I smell stinking fish again? *The greatest hail storm in all Egyptian history, apparently, but not worthy of being recorded.* Exodus 9:18-25.
It's the turn of the locusts and it's suddenly obvious why some plants had to survive. *How could the locusts turn Egypt into a barren desert if the hail storm had done it earlier?* Good thinking there. Shame about the earlier boob! *Mysteriously, no Egyptian scribe appears to notice any of this or the inevitable famine and mass starvation which would have ensued.* Exodus 10:4-15.
And for the penultimate trick, it's going to be dark for three days. *No one makes a record of this, obviously.* Exodus 10:21-23.
The last 'plague' is not so much a plague as a ritual genocide. *Here our tale takes a nasty turn and the true character of the Hebrew god is revealed in all its glory - a petty, vindictive, homicidal psychopath who has not yet acquired the omniscience he will be granted later. He kills every firstborn Egyptian in a single night,* ***including the firstborn of all the cattle that died in the fifth plague.*** *For some reason he needs the Hebrews to leave a secret sign so he doesn't kill them too. Weirdly, he can't tell his own chosen people from ordinary Egyptians and doesn't even know where they live.* And he had been leading up to this, apparently, because after every plague he 'hardens the heart' of Pharaoh so that he wouldn't let the Hebrews go. He had actually been planning this genocide all along just to impress people with his powers. *And still no-one thought even this mass killing in a single night worth making a note of in any Egyptian records.* Exodus 12:1-30.
And then, of course, Pharaoh could muster up 600 horses to pull the chariots ***from amongst all the dead livestock from the 5th plague*** (Exodus 14:7).
Google *"Rosa Rubicondior: Origins Of The Exodus Myth"*
------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition, look up the below articles.
*"Debunking Christianity: PATTERNS OF POOR RESEARCH- A Critique of Patterns of Evidence:Exodus"*
*"For you were (not) slaves in Egypt: The ancient memories behind the Exodus myth - Archaeology - **Haaretz.com**"*
*"Why the Exodus Story Has Value Despite Being Complete Myth - Psychology Today Australia"*
*"Is the Exodus a Myth? - Worlds Beyond"*
*"Historicity of Exodus and Moses - The Creatively Maladjusted"*
*"Biblical Contradiction #81. When did the Exodus allegedly happen: during the reign of Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) OR in 1447 BC?"* - by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Biblical Contradiction #87. Does the god of the Hebrews reveal himself to Moses in Midian OR in Egypt?"* - by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Bible Contradiction **#134**. Which Ten Commandments?"* - by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Bible Contradiction **#147**. Who writes the laws and commandments on stone tablets: Moses OR Yahweh?"* - by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Ten Reasons Why the Bible’s Story of the Exodus is Not True - by Tim Zeak - ExCommunications - Medium"*
*"Why Moses Did Not Write the Torah - Thomas Shoemaker"*
*"Sargon the Great and Moses - The Word of Me… Wordpress"*
*"The Death of the Documentary Hypothesis | Rev. David Bokovoy"*
*"The Neo-Documentary Hypothesis | Rev. David Bokovoy"*
*"How do we know that the biblical writers were* ***not*** *writing history?"* -- by Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Contradictions in the Bible | Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them"* -- by Dr. Steven DiMattei
Higher critical rot
There is one huge problem with this: The mental model of the immensely powerful god and the almost totally weak humans and the presumption that we can control anything and must be punished for our "sins". There can be no real relationship between immense power and weakness. Immense power swamps weakness by default. This structural problem cuts at the core of my problem with all the great monotheistic religions. And a nice theologian like Wright has no chance of solving it.
If anyone thinks the Bible is the "word of God", they need to read the below article from a critical Biblical scholar and spend some time reading the other articles on his website.
"So for example, when we read carefully what Yahweh says in the book of Leviticus, namely that the Aaronids (the sons of Aaron only), are high priests contrary to the Levites, that they alone are Yahweh’s mediators and the Levites are reduced to mere ministers of the Aaronids, that only through sacrifice can one atone for sins and not confession as preached by the Levites, or more precisely the Levite’s Yahweh, etc., *it can be no coincidence that in these laws and commandments,* ***which are placed on the mouth of Yahweh,*** *that Yahweh himself is presented advocating and legitimating the very views and beliefs of the specific priestly guild writing the text, and, contrary to the views and beliefs of their rivals, the Levites and the Levite’s Yahweh!* We will examine this more closely when we get to the contradictions in these books. But in short, this was the function of ancient literature, and we are allowing these ancient texts to speak for themselves. *In this particular case, the Levites and Aaronids wrote specific texts that each advocated their religious beliefs, views, and their position as high priests* ***by writing these sentiments directly into the mouth of their god!***
But just studying the Bible alone, scientifically, affords us the occasion *to see that many of these so-called words of Yahweh are* ***actually the very words of the texts’ authors.*** When we see numerous texts employing this ancient literary technique, and moreover, ***presenting Yahweh as the spokesperson for their own views and agenda,*** *and* ***contrary*** *to Yahweh’s other words in other texts written by other authors employing the same technique,* how can one conclude otherwise.
In other words, when in the composite text that we now call the Bible we find: Yahweh declaring that only Aaronids can officiate as his priests and Yahweh declaring that all Levites can officiate as high priest; Yahweh declaring that sin is atoned through confession and Yahweh declaring that sin is only expiated through the sacrificial cult, no exceptions; Yahweh declaring that he gave laws and commandments at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that he only gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai; Yahweh commanding to exterminate all the Canaanites without pity and Yahweh declaring to tolerate them and live in their midst; Yahweh declaring that the wilderness generation were disloyal and rebellious and Yahweh declaring that they were a paradigm of loyalty and faith; Yahweh declaring that he may be offered sacrifices at any altar and Yahweh declaring that there is only one altar where sacrifices are to be offered up; Yahweh declaring that the people saw him at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that they only heard his voice; Yahweh declaring that circumcision is an eternal covenant and keeping the land depends on observing this very commandment and Yahweh declaring the Mosaic laws as the covenant and keeping the land is dependent on keeping these laws; Yahweh declaring that he dwells in the midst of the people and Yahweh declaring that he only resides in heaven; Yahweh commanding Passover to be celebrated by all at Jerusalem and Yahweh commanding it to be celebrated at each person’s home; Yahweh commanding that animals for consumption must be ritually sacrificed and Yahweh commanding that they don’t have to be sacrificed ritually, etc. ***one must conclude that Yahweh is being used by these authors, each with their own contrary views and beliefs as a spokesperson for each of these authors’ agendas.*** These are all the personal, and competing, views, theological beliefs, and religious systems of our biblical authors. And this is only the tip of the iceberg."
*"Studying the Bible"* - Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Contradictions in the Bible | Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them"* -- by Dr. Steven DiMattei
Take this higher critical rubbish elsewhere.
Well, this is all very interesting, but why believe what Dr. DiMattei claims is accurate? There are many scholars who hold differing positions. The real trick is to figure out who makes the best case. In other words, are the reasons he gives valid? Do the other scholars who hold contrary positions make better arguments? Most of what you have posted here are assertions with no real reasons to believe the assertions that are being made.