YHVH's Great Test

Retired Prof said...

Dennis, your comment about the story of Abraham and Isaac is pertinent to an anthology I am composing, with the working title "Fables of the Gods." The pattern is to summarize a story that includes a god or gods from one ancient tradition or another. Then I follow it with a moral like those attached to Aesop's fables.

Here's the moral for this story: "Not being human themselves, the gods see no reason to follow basic rules of human decency when they play a practical joke. Deal with it."

Your emphasis on Abraham's culpability is equally justifiable. In fact, way more so, if we're talking psychology instead of theology.

RT  Even as a child in Sunday School, this story puzzled me but also terrified me.  What father would do that? What if the voices in his head were wrong?  How damaged and distrusting of his father would Isaac forevermore be?  What did Mrs. Abraham think of this?  It never made sense to me and I never took it as a story of great faith worthy of note.  It seemed a manifestation of mental illness. At any rate, I was NEVER inspired by it.  And in the Dutch Reformed Sunday School classes, Abraham got a pass and was one of the great men of the Bible.  Not in my young world.

So for your consideration, this sums up an alternative answer to the whole thing nicely for me and would have had I seen it as a child!   :)

YHWH's Amazing Test

NOTE

There is also some consideration in theological circles that the story was a transitional story between the Age of Moses and Taurus the Bull,  4000-2000 BCE where Bulls and Calves were the prominent icon of worship (i.e. Golden Calf worship)  and the now beginning of the Age of Aries, the Lamb. Thus the change in symbols to be used in worship.  

(An "Age" is noted as the 2100 years or so the Sun is found in each of the 12 Constellations ending in one complete cycle of 25,000 years, called the "Great Year")

Even Mithraism, which preceded Christianity,  notes the change with the God Mithras slaying the Bull in it's iconography making way for the new age of Aries.  The death of Jesus in the story marks the end of the Age of Aries with the death of the Lamb of God and the beginning of Pices, the Two Fish  (ahem) and the Church Age of Christianity. I personally think when this Age, which is about to end and whose sacred fluid is blood, without which there is NO forgiveness, the Age of Aquarius , the Water Man, will find the sacred fluid of the future to be WATER.  . 

Spiritual Extortion

Ambassador College Correspondance Course VOL 7 1955

submitted by SHT

The Orlin Grabbe Letter

You can finish the rest of this 70-page letter from Orlin Grabbe on The Painful Truth.

A Letter to Mother by J. Orlin Grabbe

The Museum of the Bible and the Worldwide Church of God

In November of 2017, the Museum of the Bible opened in Washington DC.  For those that have been to visit it, they say it is an extremely interesting place to visit.  It is certainly a far more scholarly attempt than the epic failure of The Ark Experience in Kentucky that draws in people from various COG splinter groups in the Eastern part of the country.

A reader here sent me the following photographs of a display in the museum. Low and behold it has a display featuring the work Basil Wolverton.  Thankfully it is not the Bible Story that the Worldwide Church of God published, but a book designed by Monte Wolverton as a tribute to his father.  It is a vast collection of Basil Wolverton's illustrations that were published by the Worldwide Church of God and other sources over the decades.  

The Wolverton Bible

Dave Pack vs. Tin Foil Bob Thiel on Football

It is a typical day in COGland as many members are settling in for a Thanksgiving meal and watching a game of football on TV.  That is except in Arroyo Grande, CA where Tin Foil Bob is having another meltdown over American football.

Give thanks to God, but not for American tackle football 

Today is the national holiday in the USA called Thanksgiving. And despite certain claims, its specific origins are not pagan. But, of course, no Christian needs to celebrate national holidays like it if they do not wish to (cf. Romans 14). And the Bible does condemn gluttony.

Yet, whether on this day or others, the Bible teaches that people should give thanks:

4 Sing praise to the LORD, You saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name (Psalm 30:4).

The Bible is full of admonitions to give thanks to God. The New King James Version of the Bible has the word ‘thank’ 25 times, ‘thanks’ 75 times, ‘thankful’ 3 times, and ‘thanksgiving’ 32 times. It also has the word ‘praise’ 237 times and ‘praises’ 11 times.

One thing that I have noticed on the day called Thanksgiving by those in the USA, is when I have been at many other places than the home I lived in, American football has been playing on television.

For many, other than food and family, football is a major focus of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Christians should give God thanks, but not encourage violence in sports like American tackle football.

To close, perhaps I should mention that we do not ‘add a day’ to God’s holy days if we somehow observe Thanksgiving or other national holidays. National observances are NOT holy days, nor does anyone have to keep them. Jesus, however, observed at least one (cf. (John 10:22-23), setting an example that we can if we so choose. But not through encouraging violence.

Dave Pack, at least, had a more historical history of Thanksgiving posted about why we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States, something Tin Foil Bob never does since all of his articles are always about him.

Dave Pack seems to be ok with football:

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, ponder and consider the many wonderful blessings you enjoy. Be grateful for these wonderful benefits. (To learn more, read our article “The Sin of Ingratitude.”) Realize that these material blessings were not given to us because of anything we have done—we do not deserve them. God has bestowed them on us—simply because of His mercy, and His promise to Abraham, the father of the faithful (Gal. 3:6-9).

Before you and your family enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, or begin watching a parade or football game, be sure to take time to truly thank God in prayer and thought for the national wealth, power and prestige He has given this nation.

While there is still time, make certain that you and your family are not partaking in the nationwide, unthankful attitude. Be sure to give thanks to God in the same heartfelt, sincere manner that the pilgrims did on the first Thanksgiving in North America! Should You Celebrate Thanksgiving Day?