Some brief items from church.
A. The pastor told a story about when his daughter and son were in Norway and missed the bus to the airport. Someone came and gave them a ride to the airport and they considered that a God-moment. I could identify because times when one is vulnerable and delivered from that vulnerability are causes for celebration—-they seem to be God-moments, even though non-Christians may attribute them to mere luck.
B. The class was about Psalm 100. The pastor said that Psalms 91-100 may be by Isaiah because they overlap with themes in Isaiah 40-66, particularly in what it says about the new heavens and the new earth. Psalms 91-100 manifests a universalism, one that applies creation and redemption to the nations and invites them into covenant with God.
C. The pastor also said that in Jesus we see God face to face, unlike Old Testament folks. I struggle with this concept. Moses could not see God face to face because that would kill him. When people saw Jesus, they were not seeing God in his fullest form—-the form that is deep, incomprehensible, overpowering, and deadly. Rather, they were seeing God manifest as a human. Still, John 1 does say that Jesus was a revelation of God that surpassed what came before, the times when no one saw God at any time. That invites a question: what did Jesus informed people about God that they did not know before? Perhaps they saw God doing things in the human arena of which, before, they only had theoretical understanding. God suffering on the cross for humanity, of course, reveals a depth of love that surpasses the pictures of God in the Old Testament.
D. I would like to add an item from last week that I forgot to include. Someone commented that, when he read passages in the Old Testament promising a long life to those who obey God, he thought that promise lacked appeal. Why would we want to live a long life here? Wouldn't we want to go to heaven instead? But he read a commentator who said that the focus on such passages is on, not length, but happiness. God promises a happy life, and that is what Christians will experience in heaven. The student's point stood out to me because I have wondered if there is a Christian theology book that addresses the theological significance of the Old Testament promises of longevity and prosperity to those who obey God. We see those promises in the Old Testament, but we also see the Book of Job's acknowledgement that "Well, things don't often work that way!" There are evil people who live long, happy lives, and there are innocent people who suffer and die prematurely. Historians argue that, because this life is unjust, Judaism embraced the concept of the afterlife: this life is unjust, but the next life will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. How should a Christian approach that theologically? Were the Old Testament promises of a long, prosperous life for the righteous incorrect?
A. The pastor told a story about when his daughter and son were in Norway and missed the bus to the airport. Someone came and gave them a ride to the airport and they considered that a God-moment. I could identify because times when one is vulnerable and delivered from that vulnerability are causes for celebration—-they seem to be God-moments, even though non-Christians may attribute them to mere luck.
B. The class was about Psalm 100. The pastor said that Psalms 91-100 may be by Isaiah because they overlap with themes in Isaiah 40-66, particularly in what it says about the new heavens and the new earth. Psalms 91-100 manifests a universalism, one that applies creation and redemption to the nations and invites them into covenant with God.
C. The pastor also said that in Jesus we see God face to face, unlike Old Testament folks. I struggle with this concept. Moses could not see God face to face because that would kill him. When people saw Jesus, they were not seeing God in his fullest form—-the form that is deep, incomprehensible, overpowering, and deadly. Rather, they were seeing God manifest as a human. Still, John 1 does say that Jesus was a revelation of God that surpassed what came before, the times when no one saw God at any time. That invites a question: what did Jesus informed people about God that they did not know before? Perhaps they saw God doing things in the human arena of which, before, they only had theoretical understanding. God suffering on the cross for humanity, of course, reveals a depth of love that surpasses the pictures of God in the Old Testament.
D. I would like to add an item from last week that I forgot to include. Someone commented that, when he read passages in the Old Testament promising a long life to those who obey God, he thought that promise lacked appeal. Why would we want to live a long life here? Wouldn't we want to go to heaven instead? But he read a commentator who said that the focus on such passages is on, not length, but happiness. God promises a happy life, and that is what Christians will experience in heaven. The student's point stood out to me because I have wondered if there is a Christian theology book that addresses the theological significance of the Old Testament promises of longevity and prosperity to those who obey God. We see those promises in the Old Testament, but we also see the Book of Job's acknowledgement that "Well, things don't often work that way!" There are evil people who live long, happy lives, and there are innocent people who suffer and die prematurely. Historians argue that, because this life is unjust, Judaism embraced the concept of the afterlife: this life is unjust, but the next life will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. How should a Christian approach that theologically? Were the Old Testament promises of a long, prosperous life for the righteous incorrect?