Was it OK for Jacob to have four wives (two of whom were sisters)? Was David really a man after the LORD's heart (1Sam. 13:14) despite his five or so wives? The answer to both questions is "Yes," but not because the two men had exemplary sexual ethics for their time. A few principles of interpretation explain my take on the sexual ethics of the OT.
1. The OT builds a story line that does not always say everything we would say, were we writing about the same material. As Hebrews makes clear, God always expected that saints live by faith in him - faith expressed in a general pattern of obedience and seeking God. All saints were sinners who related to the LORD on the basis of his electing grace; works were never the foundation for relating to God (this is important for understanding how the NT talks about "works of the law"). So, the general pattern of faith might include some glaring sins that did not ruin the pattern of faith, especially when we consider when the different saints lived in the process of God's story. For instance, Jacob would not have been allowed to marry sisters if he had lived during or after the Exodus generation (Lev. 18:18). But his awareness of God's standards for living were likely quite limited. He might not have been aware of the Adam and Eve start to the human race. Jacob's polygamy and associated sexual practices were still sinful by God's standards (Rom. 5:12-14), but Jacob was (possibly) blissfully unaware. His conscience might have told him something was wrong; his chaotic family certainly proved the point.
2. The OT Law is an interesting mix of instruction (=torah, the Hebrew word usually translated "law" - think the Ten Commandments), statutes with penalties prescribed, rituals and religious rites that picture the ubiquitous sinfulness of God's people, and descriptive stories that must be carefully evaluated in their contexts and in light of other clear passages. A few illustrations might help unpack this. Though Genesis 1-2 are descriptive passages, they describe God's perfect design - the way things ought to have been - and thus, they can serve a prescriptive role. That was how marriage and sex were designed to work. Jesus confirms this use of Genesis 1-2 when he gave his take on divorce in Matt. 19:3-9. The seventh "principle" in the Ten Commandments seems to me to convey a broad application of the Genesis 1-2 model for marriage - "Don't violate this relationship." Specific ways of violating the Ten Commandments get treated in other places in the law as statutes with prescribed penalties. However, not all possible ways of violating the general principles receive specific treatment with punishments. Some violations of the Ten Commandments are not addressed with punishments or even with prescribed sacrifices, but this does not mean that they are not therefore violations. Take the tenth of the Ten: do not covet. How could this principle be enforced as a statute with specific penalties?
I would guess that there were at least two reasons that some ways of violating the Ten Commandments were left unpunished and without specific requirements for atonement in the Law. First, sinful man's inability to keep the Law almost necessitated that not every violation of the Ten Commandments be punishable by human government. By this I mean carrying out judgment would be terribly difficult for every violation of the Ten Commandments, much less all the additional commands and statutes. Second, the Law was both the religious instruction and the political constitution for Israel. Before CSI, many ways of violating the Ten Commandments were invisible to the public eye, and we know that the Law requires witnesses. Again, think coveting - how could a human judge even approach the subject? Similarly, some sexual sin could not be easily investigated.
I'll address polygamy in another post, along with the discrepancy between sex before marriage and sex outside of marriage in the OT.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
A Glimpse Inside African American Churches
I have read several commentaries in response to the strong sermon excerpts with plain political and social overtones made by Barak Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Walker. Some of these commentaries were written by political pundits and others by explicitly Christian voices, but the common denominator among them was that all were written by white people. I am fairly convinced that it is tough for me to understand the ethos of African American churches (viewed in broad generalities) because I am an outsider. So, when I read an interview with Thabiti Anyabwile (a pastor in the Cayman Islands, whose name I cannot pronounce) by an editor at Christianity Today, I decided to share the link.
Check out the first question and part of the answer:
Editor: "What did you think when you first heard the sermons from Sen. Obama's former pastor. Jeremiah Wright?"
Anyabwile: "Actually, I had two reactions. First, I thought they were fairly typical kinds of comments whenever African American pastors begin to whoop on political issues. One thing the viewer needs to keep in mind is that in terms of sermonic style, Wright appeared to be in the almost-always-dramatic climax of a typical African American sermon. Those parts of the sermon tend to have great emotional effect, as evidenced by the shouting crowd, but are very often not the main point of the sermon."
The editor goes on to ask, "Are Wright's views mainstream among African Americans?" You should read the answer (on page 2 of 3). My best friend since high school is a black guy who grew up in a "black church" on the other end of town from me who has shown great clarity in his theological thinking and approach to social issues And in the last few years I have been indebted to the long-time pastor of the oldest African American church in my county (he supervised me for a field education credit through seminary). Between my old friend and this seasoned pastor, I have learned how an insider's perspective helps make sense of much that doesn't make sense to an outsider!
This was brought home to me as I was disappointed by the generalizations heaped on Protestants and Evangelicals generally because pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley endorsed John McCain. As an "insider," I was not pleased with the way all Protestants and/or Evangelicals were casually dismissed because of these two men. My small congregation has a few who might listen to these guys, but I have significant disagreements with each on major theological issues (and each with the other, probably). Some of these are the underlying beliefs that help make sense of their public/controversial statements. I guess since they are on TV and regularly in print, one could wish Hagee and Parsley would constantly display their foundational beliefs for the sake of clarity. Truly understanding another takes so much time!
Update: Thabiti Anyabwile has a long post about the Christian response to racism and Obama's speech.
Check out the first question and part of the answer:
Editor: "What did you think when you first heard the sermons from Sen. Obama's former pastor. Jeremiah Wright?"
Anyabwile: "Actually, I had two reactions. First, I thought they were fairly typical kinds of comments whenever African American pastors begin to whoop on political issues. One thing the viewer needs to keep in mind is that in terms of sermonic style, Wright appeared to be in the almost-always-dramatic climax of a typical African American sermon. Those parts of the sermon tend to have great emotional effect, as evidenced by the shouting crowd, but are very often not the main point of the sermon."
The editor goes on to ask, "Are Wright's views mainstream among African Americans?" You should read the answer (on page 2 of 3). My best friend since high school is a black guy who grew up in a "black church" on the other end of town from me who has shown great clarity in his theological thinking and approach to social issues And in the last few years I have been indebted to the long-time pastor of the oldest African American church in my county (he supervised me for a field education credit through seminary). Between my old friend and this seasoned pastor, I have learned how an insider's perspective helps make sense of much that doesn't make sense to an outsider!
This was brought home to me as I was disappointed by the generalizations heaped on Protestants and Evangelicals generally because pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley endorsed John McCain. As an "insider," I was not pleased with the way all Protestants and/or Evangelicals were casually dismissed because of these two men. My small congregation has a few who might listen to these guys, but I have significant disagreements with each on major theological issues (and each with the other, probably). Some of these are the underlying beliefs that help make sense of their public/controversial statements. I guess since they are on TV and regularly in print, one could wish Hagee and Parsley would constantly display their foundational beliefs for the sake of clarity. Truly understanding another takes so much time!
Update: Thabiti Anyabwile has a long post about the Christian response to racism and Obama's speech.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Prospective Posts
Our main point in starting this blog was to make it easier to disseminate pictures and stories of master Wesley's exploits. Several of you have noticed that I have not been able to resist editorializing about various things in this new-fangled venue. Rather than running our decent blog into the ground with things undesirable to you, our (we hope) loyal readers, I thought I would propose a few topics to see if any would be interesting to you:
1. I just finished Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People by Esther L. Meek after several months of sporadic reading. The author is a seminary professor and a mom who understands the deep thoughts of Michael Polanyi (a philosopher of science) and brings the cookies down to the bottom shelf where we can reach them. The strengths of her book - short chapters, teaching by stories and examples, and avoiding technical jargon - actually frustrated me a bit! She gives great insight (and illustrations) of how faith and knowing God is like knowing her auto mechanic, how learning anything new is like staring at those Magic Eye illusions that give me headaches (with the "hidden" picture we are supposed to see), and many other helpful discussions. She even makes good sense of doubt, being wrong and knowing stuff that you just can't put into words yet. Would anyone like some posts discussing this?
2. Last night I preached "You shall not commit adultery" in my series through Deuteronomy. Sounds simple, right? I tried to make sense of the broad spectrum of laws addressing sexuality in the OT - why adultery was punishable by death but polygamy, many cases of premarital sex, and even some cases of prostitution were tolerated in varying degrees. Besides the Old Testament trivia, I tried to convince people that marriages are a public trust - relationships that the Church and society should go to great lengths to protect (with some suggestions of how). Finally, I gave a 3-part strategy I find in the Bible for preventing adultery in the community of faith (not just my own marriage). Does this sound interesting?
3. My buddy John Mark (see his blog linked to the right), who talked me into training for the KY Derby mini-marathon told me it would provide numerous sermon illustrations (is that a good selling point for paying money for the intentional four-month torturing of my feet, knees and pale skin?). So, I've been reflecting on the "little value" of training. My thoughts have tended to turn toward the brevity of life compared with eternity because my route takes me by the small cemetery where we buried my head deacon and another old member ten days ago. I'm assuming no one (among our four regular readers) will want to read these reflections, but if you do, post a comment.
Here's how you let me know what interests you: post a comment on this particular post about which of these things interests you. Don't feel bad (family members) if no one expresses interest in my offerings. Silence is telling; the blogosphere has plenty of opinions already!
1. I just finished Longing to Know: The Philosophy of Knowledge for Ordinary People by Esther L. Meek after several months of sporadic reading. The author is a seminary professor and a mom who understands the deep thoughts of Michael Polanyi (a philosopher of science) and brings the cookies down to the bottom shelf where we can reach them. The strengths of her book - short chapters, teaching by stories and examples, and avoiding technical jargon - actually frustrated me a bit! She gives great insight (and illustrations) of how faith and knowing God is like knowing her auto mechanic, how learning anything new is like staring at those Magic Eye illusions that give me headaches (with the "hidden" picture we are supposed to see), and many other helpful discussions. She even makes good sense of doubt, being wrong and knowing stuff that you just can't put into words yet. Would anyone like some posts discussing this?
2. Last night I preached "You shall not commit adultery" in my series through Deuteronomy. Sounds simple, right? I tried to make sense of the broad spectrum of laws addressing sexuality in the OT - why adultery was punishable by death but polygamy, many cases of premarital sex, and even some cases of prostitution were tolerated in varying degrees. Besides the Old Testament trivia, I tried to convince people that marriages are a public trust - relationships that the Church and society should go to great lengths to protect (with some suggestions of how). Finally, I gave a 3-part strategy I find in the Bible for preventing adultery in the community of faith (not just my own marriage). Does this sound interesting?
3. My buddy John Mark (see his blog linked to the right), who talked me into training for the KY Derby mini-marathon told me it would provide numerous sermon illustrations (is that a good selling point for paying money for the intentional four-month torturing of my feet, knees and pale skin?). So, I've been reflecting on the "little value" of training. My thoughts have tended to turn toward the brevity of life compared with eternity because my route takes me by the small cemetery where we buried my head deacon and another old member ten days ago. I'm assuming no one (among our four regular readers) will want to read these reflections, but if you do, post a comment.
Here's how you let me know what interests you: post a comment on this particular post about which of these things interests you. Don't feel bad (family members) if no one expresses interest in my offerings. Silence is telling; the blogosphere has plenty of opinions already!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Facing Reality
When it comes to politics, I believe principle should reign in our constitutional government. I am not as widely read (or as current on breaking stories) as you few who actually read our blog. I have started checking a blog by a couple of law profs to supplement my limited perspective. One of them, William Stuntz, contributed a two-page reality check for party-loyalists among both major parties. I enjoyed it in some sense. Feel free to comment on our blog or to go right to the source.
Stuntz's article
I just realized a minute ago that The Weekly Standard (which I have never read until just now) is owned by Rupert Murdoch's organization, which also owns Fox, Zondervan (which publishes the NIV of the Bible), and some major soft-pornography publishing in Europe (or so I've been told), among other things. That doesn't sit well...
Stuntz's article
I just realized a minute ago that The Weekly Standard (which I have never read until just now) is owned by Rupert Murdoch's organization, which also owns Fox, Zondervan (which publishes the NIV of the Bible), and some major soft-pornography publishing in Europe (or so I've been told), among other things. That doesn't sit well...
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wesley after six months
I decided this outfit is my son's "African dignitary" attire mainly because of the hat. Wesley had his six month check-up with immunizations last week. He is healthy and strong, and we are not assuming God owes us that! Rather, health and provision are things we do not deserve - expressions of God's kindness toward us. Wesley's head and length measured around the 75th percentile (or possibly higher on his length) for his age, but his weight put him squarely in the middle of 6-month-old children. He still cannot crawl or remain sitting up by himself, so we help him "assume the position" and try to lessen the force of impact when he plants his face on the floor.
He discovered his feet a number of weeks ago, but he plays with them now.
...but only when he can spare a hand from his preoccupation of sucking and chewing on everything within grasp. His left thumb is still his preference in most cases.
We are trying to be consistent with getting some cereal in that boy everyday. Feeding him is pretty fun - even when he tries to help by grabbing the spoon. In an unrelated topic of interest, this photo documents my unconscious responsive facial expressions. Laura tells me about them now and then, always to my disbelief.
Wesley, Laura and I hit the snow for a little while. The wind was crisp enough (the temp was around 25 degrees) that we could not stay outside long. That is a cold little face! Yesterday, when the temperature was a little above freezing, we tried our jogging stroller (called a B.O.B.) with great pleasure (thank you, Laura's cousins). Little Wesley had a little dried snot under his nose after we finished.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)