In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.
One of the main dangers in the way we chose to interpret God in both testaments, is our tendency to see the Bible as containing two different gods: the God of the
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Lamb proves that a negative perception of God could “affect a person’s passion for reading Scripture” (Lamb 22), the choice to draw near or flee from Him, and perception of his followers. Overall I think Lamb adequately uses evidence to demonstrate “negative perceptions of God, stemming from erroneous interpretations of the Old Testament, not only affect non-Christians who refuse to believe in him because of their misconceptions, they also affect Christians, in both obvious and subtle ways” (Lamb 21). If I could add to Lamb’s argument, I would include a section dealing with the origins of the misconceptions reviewed in this chapter. This section would enlighten readers to the sources the negative perceptions of God’s character. Some misconceptions may have begun in Biblical times while others may have arisen in this century, therefore it would be interesting to understand their
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
On July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner before time runs out. He does not only preach about the ways that make God so omnipotent, but the ways that he is more superior to us. In his sermon, Edwards uses strong, powerful, and influential words to clearly point out his message that we must amend our ways or else destruction invincible. Edwards appeals to the spectators though the various usages of rhetorical devices. This includes diction, imagery, language/tone and syntax. Through the use of these rhetoric devices, Edwards‘s purpose is to remind the speculators that life is given by God and so they must live according to him. This include...
In When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold Kushner, a Rabbi, provides the reader with multiple thought provoking stories. Although it is his own book, it has little to do with Kushner himself. He, like many others, has experienced loss and began to question his belief in God. If God is the almighty figure many make him out to be, why would he cause harm to his faithful followers? Kushner asks the questions many are afraid and refuse to ask, and he helps guide others who have experienced such trouble as well.
For many centuries, God has been changing; His interpretations are what that has changed the most about him. The God of the 1st century is nothing compared to the God that billions of people worship today. Seeing that God has undergone so many different types of transformations, I would be correct to say that many diverse understandings about His role and His teachings have come about. For example, there are several, unique types of Bibles addressing what God has said, but honestly, He only said what He spoke in one way. The various beliefs about God have led Christians to gain different perceptions about their God, which caused them to worship and appreciate Him in drastically different ways. This can be seen particularly in the way Deists, such as Benjamin Franklin, recognize God and His Word in opposition to that of the Puritans.
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is the epitome of a fire and brimstone sermon. Edwards was able to deliver this speech with force, power, and charisma. However this sermon effectively portrays Edwards’s own interpretation of man’s sinful nature and God’s wrathful nature even when read silently. Jonathan Edwards is capable of effectively communicating that his position as a reverend is a means of legitimizing his ability to interpret the bible and all of its scriptures. Edwards finds success in his speech by his use of vivid and violent imagery. By doing this Edwards is able to do two things, one convince his parishioners that as a man of God he has the authority to be an interpreter of the bible. He forces his audience into trusting him by constructing strong emotional reactions that incites fear and panic into his audience. He thus plays on the audiences’ loyalties to the bible as well as biblical and religious authority figures.
Throughout the Bible God can be represented in a number of different ways. In some chapters of the Bible God can be found to be a compassionate, loving God, who would do anything for his people. To contradict this, in other chapters of the Bible God can be found trying to instill fear into people so that they believe in him, or do what he wants of them. In both instances it shows how different God can be seen and why believers can have doubts about how God really is.
Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God , "The God that holds you over the
John Edward gave the sermon “In the hands of an angry god” and reached out to his listeners using scare tactics and made them tremble and terrified of what he was saying. Edward preached his speech during the time of the Great Awakening. He used fear as a way to get people to repent. Edward portrays God as merciless when he states there is “nothing you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment”. He makes God seem so angry that he has no love anymore and like everyone is doomed unless they repent in that very moment. Edward delivers his sermon with the ability to persuade and uses fear as his tactics.
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
The Religious Text that is The Hebrew Bible explores the changing personalities of God. The personalities of God range from an optimistic and creative God in the first creation story in Genesis to a destructive and regretful God during the story of Noah and the ark. God’s personalities are not black and white; he gives tests, such as when he asks Abraham to kill his own son because God was jealous of the possibility of Abraham loving his son more than him. Though Gods personalities can differ in the Hebrew Bible, he always acts on his personality to shape the world and his creations. The changing personalities of God reveal the ever-changing nature of God and signify how human need drives how the Hebrews conceived God. The varying personalities of God fulfill the roles of a creator, a judge and a jealous God.
In Christianity the behaviors and teachings of individuals in the Bible stories are subjectively interpreted as good or bad - or the stories are said to be holy or evil within the eyes of God, which then leads the reader to conclude which specific acts are deemed right or wrong - and ...
Many people state that they do not believe in any kind of god, that the world simply came into existence. However, this belief cannot hold true. Simply by examining nature and all of its intricate details, people stand unable to deny the presence of a Creator. Deep down, people cannot help but to feel that something greater than themselves exists. A Supreme Being- a god, but what kind of god exists? A god similar to Ares, the war-god of the Greeks? One who lusts for blood and destruction? Or a placid god, one parallel to Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace? Fabricated by mankind, these so called “gods” all bear flaws. The Bible, the Word of the Lord, remains the only book on earth that gives an account of the true God and His attributes. Through examination of the Word, readers will come to the realization that a just God exists, that He sends trials to his followers to develop their faith, and that He remains sovereign.
The Book of Ages, which is known as The Bible, has been Christianity’s handbook since the early days of the Church. It is a book that has guided many souls through perilous storms of life and has given priceless instructions concerning every facet of life, and like its author, it is no respecter of persons. Anyone who ventures therein can be helped and encouraged immensely by what they find, or they may be cut deeply and killed by its law. It has been attested that this book is THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD. However, many have not realized that this "inerrant word of God" has also guided large numbers of people down the road to spurious beliefs and grave deceptions. Therefore, the question might be, WHICH BIBLE is THE INERRANT WORD OF GOD? Is it