CHARACTER OF YHWH

The stories of the Hebrew Bible shows YHWH as a mysterious God and the author warns of the propensity of characters to shift in and out of focus(p76). At times in the bible YHWH has a single trait and is considered predictable(flat character) and at times He displays a multiple of traits, even contradictory behaviors(p75). This lends to that mysterious persona because the authors of the Biblical Stories did n't truly understand, why God reacted in certain circumstances, why God does things the way He does. At times he was a God of mercy, of retribution, a God that gives, a God that takes away, a God that is present, and a God missing in action. All of these characterizations are clues, that helps the reader to draw a picture of God, even though it maybe an imperfect picture. It underlines the complexity of our relationship with God, and I believe the authors infers that we have made it more complex than it should be.

Reading Ethically

When reading the Bible, people can and will put there own interpretation on the passages they are reading. They will relate to those passages based on their life experiences. The two examples used in the text: the Czech Jews and the Bible class, shows that if you read the Bible "as if" your life depended on it, you might be a more critical reader of the Bible. As stated in the text, "competent reading has to di with more than the application of knowledge because the stakes can be high - with consequences for life and limb". As much as we try to take into account the time and context in which the Scriptures in the Bible were written, I believe that we must look at 2 Peter 1: 20-21: "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" When reading the Bible, we must remember that it is inspired by God and it is through the Holy Spirit that we can truly understand the Scriptures. When we put our own personal "spins" on the Bible, are we truly getting the meaning that God wants us to get from his Words? The woman stated that Matthew 5:38-39, "has killed more women than any of us here would care to count". It wasn't those Scriptures that killed women, it was the interpretation that could have gotten the women killed. So when we ethically read the Bible, we should do it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Enuma Elish On-Line

Class:  here is the link to the Enuma Elish for this evening's class.  Click on Enuma Elish On-line and you will go right to the link.  We will use this in class this evening.