Jan 26
Genesis 12-20 the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was pretty much a review for me. One thing that I’ve never heard was how Abraham would give his wife to kings of near by towns and then after they married her, God would come to them. This seems dirty. It seems like a trick to get money, sheep, and servants from rich kings. Although God did say that anyone who blesses him would be blessed, but I think Abraham is getting what he wants way too easily. Another thing I noticed was the part about circumcising all the men in the household. I’m not sure why this was important except that God told Abraham to do it. Another thing is why God not just made Sarai fertile right away instead of letting Abraham take his wife’s servant. And lastly I’m not sure why God has made this covenant with Abraham. What is their connection and why allow him to do this wife swapping trick on kings. Maybe I need to read through this again to understand more.
Piper 5-6 both of these chapters dealt with God and Jesus’s love for us. Chapter five deals with the notion that we, as sinners, should deserve punishment and not a gift of his son as forgiveness. That we are not worthy of his grace, yet he gives us it with love. The frogs deserve it more, because of the lack of sin. Chapter six said that it was Christ’s love for us that he died on the cross. Also a Christian said that Jesus loved them and he showed it by sacrificing himself for us. Both chapters reminded us that we should be thankful for the love that is, was, given to us from the Lord and Jesus.
Lewis 28-39 What we do is not always what we are supposed to do. Conscious helps us find moral law, or right from wrong, through conscience is telling what feels good or bad. I liked the ketch 22 with if there were an absolute goodness he would hate what we do because the moral law tells us one thing and we do the other. The idea of Materialism vs. Spiritualism isn’t really a new concept but I’m not sure if I’m convinced that without God there could be no unselfishness or altruism. Moral law doesn’t need to sprout from a divine source, although this is kind of Lewis’s argument. The idea of Pantheists not having the distinction between good and evil is interesting. Let’s say God is like this and he is everywhere and he is a part of you, me, and the universe, then we would have to look into the bad parts to try and find the good. Christianity saying that God encourages us to do good and punishes evil is the standard idea. God being a painting and not the painter is a fascinating concept.
