Great thread and while I have not commented on it, I do the feel the need to now. These are my personal beliefs and I don’t hope to offend anyone. But, as it occurs, in the O.T. the way to know if someone was false Prophet or a true prophet was if their prophecy came true. This seems a bit to ‘convenient’ shall we say. For example, Isaiah would have been a false prophet if he had been judged 300 years before Christ and even today, as not all his prophecies have come true (yet) and the fact is - they might not ever. Right? If you throw enough crap on the wall, some of it is sure to stick. All this to say, if something seems morally wrong, it probably is wrong, at least as far as that individual is concerned. No, I am not suggestion moral relativity, but I am suggesting that perhaps the O.T. isn’t inspired as many would like to think. I mean, I don’t have to read long before part of me says “This was totally inhumane”. There are lots of ‘atrocious’ things done in the O.T. that are supposedly supposed to be in the name of God, both for him and approved by him.
For example: Saul’s sons and grandson’s…
2nd Samuel 21:6 “let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” And the king said, “I will give them.” BTW, these grand children were crucified/impaled. Now, some might suggest these were bad kids… All 7? Seems unlikely. Besides, didn’t the somewhere in Deut (I can provide a reference if necessary) it says that sons shall not pay for the sins of their fathers and vice versa? Seems to me, that David did not follow this law as set forth when he present the 7 descendants of Saul to be dealt with in a cruel manner.
Of course, the reasoning behind accepting these verses tends to be “Well, there must be a good reason, the text just doesn’t give the details” yet the text gives specific details or somethings that don’t seem important… You know? It seems all to convenient to accept a text and pretend there is something we don’t know. While that is the truth, there are things we don’t know, God can only rightly assume that we will judge matters based on what we do know. Hence, I see no reason to reject things in the Bible that see morally corrupt and evil, no matter if they are attributed to God or not.
FYI - I know very well that I make typos and rarely do I present something in a format where it could be published. I am capable of writing much better, but I don’t due to lack of time. Anyhow, just wanted to throw that edit in there, which is why I don’t often provided references and paraphase many things. Once of these days I might dedicate some time to really post something a bit more professional, but I do that all day at work. The last thing I want to do is spend 1 hour proofing through a posting and editing, etc… Hope you all understand. Now that most of you care anyway, as I am a nobody. Just a person with his own walk with God who is pretty cynical over what Christianity has become. I may be to blame in that too… Lord knows I am far from where I need to be.