Many of these issues are fairly raw for me, touchy because of a clear sense that my Evangelical culture has been unhelpful, harmful even, in my grasp, humanity’s grasp of God’s world. I am on high alert for the pseudo-scientific; am highly motivated to properly parse Biblical narratives. That is why those questions above rose so automatically. Unfortunately those automatic rabbit trails were not going to garner good thoughts, good places, or perfect answers.
Better issues:
- “What is the bigger point of what is being taught here?”
- “Are there better questions that can be asked?”
- “Can better conclusions be drawn? Conclusions which are helpful for my today, my moment?”
- “Can I cool down from those more volatile questions?”
Better answers:
- God sees what happens on the earth.
- God cares about human behavior.
- God does judge people for their doings.
- Even the men of Sodom had a sense of right and wrong. Note what they said, “We’ll treat you [Lot] worse than them [the men who had arrived].” (verse 9).
- As a corollary to that God had told Abram “walk before me and be blameless.” That is Genesis 17:1. There was no Law of Moses, no New Testament stuff back then, no Jesus. People had a sense of right and wrong.
- God is merciful to many who are not righteous or living righteously (Lot was able to get his daughters and those men engaged to them. If you think the daughters were righteous just read on into Genesis 19:30 and following…)
- Some who are treated to the gifts of mercy still prefer their own manner of things (men engaged to Lot’s daughters, Lot’s wife)
So, for me, today the better place to go with my Biblical reading is to exchange the “Did God reallys?” for “Here is what we learn about God and what I am to do with my life.” That is a shift from unhealthy, unknowables, what-if type questions to the healthy and helpful. It also can turn down the adversity between Christians who align differently amongst themselves regarding the literal and figurative.
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