Thursday, May 27, 2010

"Grace amidst Genocide"

": A Liberal Hippie Mormon Guide to Reading the Whole Old Testament."

That's the name of the book I will write one day. The Old Testament is full of rape, racism, sexism and genocide. For a long time I've felt a deep connection to the Old Testament and a desire to understand its messages. But as I've become more of a hippie and especially as I've been working with Cait through some of the early parts of the OT I've realized more and more that a lot of what I view as God's nature is contradicted or wildly distorted by some of the events and teachings of the OT.

I still have no complete idea of how to reconcile my view of God with the God that the OT suggests, but someday I hope to, and then I'll write a book and help many of my fellow hippies, that is, of course if I become and remain a hippie. Here's a preview or a summary of some of my current feelings:

1) God doesn't change, His kingdom does.God will give his children just as much doctrine as they are able to handle, but not more. In reading the old testament it becomes obvious how basic the doctrines they were to follow were, mainly external practices. It also teaches us that this continues today. Christ came and focused on Charities (among other things), Joseph came and focused on revelation (among other things) later prophets on the family, on education. And future prophets will add more and more (which is hopeful for the future).

2) God is a lot bigger than we understand. He sees the big picture in ways we don't and allows things that we might view as distasteful in order to accomplish a greater good.

3) Imposing our cultural morals standards on a culture so separated from ours is a very non-hippie thing  to do.

There is still a lot I don't understand. Leave a great comment and I'll quote you in my book in 40 years.

3 comments:

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  2. "Surely the experiences of the great prophets of the Old Testament have been recorded to help us understand the importance of choosing the path of strict obedience." Pres. Howard W. Hunter "Committed to God, Ensign, Nov. 1982 ,58

    "The Old Testament prophets from Adam to Malachi are testifying of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament, and it was He who conversed with Abraham and Moses." Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, May 1977, 76

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  3. This has nothing to do with your post, but tell Cait that our modem burned out and I don't think that we will have access again to a computer until next Tuesday. I will email her if we do.

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