Disrespecting God is a Slow Burn
Continued from "We Are Saved From Disrespecting God":
Like every other person seduced into fundamentalist Christianity, I wondered how I could have inherited the guilt of Adam's sin of disobeying God's commandment (see * at end of post). I had not disobeyed the commandment, so why was I condemned? I rationalized to make sense of it: Adam had been spiritually alive to God; he sinned and became separate from God; then I was born into the state Adam’s descendants were now in - separated from God. It is kind of like that: we are born into ignorance, a lack of awareness of God ubiquitous in the world.
“The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18 KJV). Adam's iniquity resulted in separation of awareness, and that separation of awareness was visited upon me. It as been a bit more than four generations, but it's a principle.
Yeah, but it don't work that way: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16). So again, why am I guilty and punished for Adam's disobedience?
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Exodus 20:5 KJV, emphasis John Piper's). Now we are getting somewhere. The children do the same sins as their parents - "hating God." And as God's standards do not change, everyone gets their own iniquity "visited" upon them. Except I neither disobeyed God nor ever hated him.
The extreme unfairness of Exodus 34:7 long irked me. It reads just about the same as Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18: "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation" (KJV). THEY sinned, and generations later those who did not sin like them still get the same punishment?
Niet. I was irked for forty years for reading the wrong version of Exodus. In Exodus 34:5-7, God is proclaiming his own nature to Moses:
"And the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and called the name of the Lord.*
6. The Lord, then, passed before him, and the Lord declared, "The Lord is Merciful, Gracious, Generous* of Spirit -- His Grace and Zeal are bountiful;
7. "Who safeguards grace for thousands of generations,* who forgives sins and obligations, but who absolutely does not sanctify* [those who sin and fail their duties;] however, He does command the love of parents upon their children and upon their children's children, to the third and fourth generations" (Victor N. Alexander‘s translation from the ancient Aramaic, emphasis mine).
Notes:
*34:5 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "And called by the name: Lord." NB! This and the subsequent passage leave little doubt that it was the Triune God that was manifested through the Father (Lord,) the Son (Lord) and the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the cloud.)
*34:6 Lit. Ar. id.: "Flowing."
*34:7.1 Lit. Ar. id.: Or: "centuries."
*34:7.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Sanctifyingly sanctify."
*34:7.3 NB! All other translations have translated this passage in error, suggesting that God punishes children and grandchildren for three to four generations because their parents sinned.
AHH! Look at that! The end of Exodus 34:7 is a gloss. No one else's sins are being visited upon us. God simply does not "sanctifyingly sanctify" us if we sin OR FAIL OUR DUTIES. What duties? To recognize God, to honor him, to respect him, to submit ourselves to his authority, to be humble in our position, to love our neighbors, our children --- could go on all day. Do, as it were, the nature of God: mercy, grace, flowing of spirit, forgiving sins and obligations, fulfilling duties, and loving. Teach your children and grandchildren well.
See? God is no monster punishing children for what great-grandpa (or great-grandma) did. AND YET EVERY CHURCH IN THE WORLD IS TEACHING IT WRONG!!
Well, every church except the Ancient Aramaic Church and possibly the Church of the East.
As imaginal acts of the Ineffable, we are beholden and obliged to the Ineffable for our existence. We exist for Its purposes, which I believe is Its becoming manifest. We are responsible to the Ineffable to manifest It. What do we Do? What CAN we do? Imagine. Our duty is to recognize and respect the Ineffable and engage in Its action: God. Our "God" is the Ineffable's imagination; i.e., the Ineffable’s ACTION. Imagination is the limit of Its activity, Its door to experience. Our imagination we offer up to God to perform with full faith in Its ability to experience its fulfillment.
*I believe that 'Adam' is God's life-force in each person, the Spirit-consciousness which makes us alive as living human beings. We, that Spirit-consciousness, transcended to become our human consciousness, BUT JUST ABOUT EVERYONE BELIEVES THAT 'ADAM' WAS A HUMAN BEING WHO STARTED THE HUMAN RACE. I did, too, for a long time as a fundamentalist.
Like every other person seduced into fundamentalist Christianity, I wondered how I could have inherited the guilt of Adam's sin of disobeying God's commandment (see * at end of post). I had not disobeyed the commandment, so why was I condemned? I rationalized to make sense of it: Adam had been spiritually alive to God; he sinned and became separate from God; then I was born into the state Adam’s descendants were now in - separated from God. It is kind of like that: we are born into ignorance, a lack of awareness of God ubiquitous in the world.
“The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18 KJV). Adam's iniquity resulted in separation of awareness, and that separation of awareness was visited upon me. It as been a bit more than four generations, but it's a principle.
Yeah, but it don't work that way: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16). So again, why am I guilty and punished for Adam's disobedience?
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me" (Exodus 20:5 KJV, emphasis John Piper's). Now we are getting somewhere. The children do the same sins as their parents - "hating God." And as God's standards do not change, everyone gets their own iniquity "visited" upon them. Except I neither disobeyed God nor ever hated him.
The extreme unfairness of Exodus 34:7 long irked me. It reads just about the same as Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:18: "Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation" (KJV). THEY sinned, and generations later those who did not sin like them still get the same punishment?
Niet. I was irked for forty years for reading the wrong version of Exodus. In Exodus 34:5-7, God is proclaiming his own nature to Moses:
"And the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him there and called the name of the Lord.*
6. The Lord, then, passed before him, and the Lord declared, "The Lord is Merciful, Gracious, Generous* of Spirit -- His Grace and Zeal are bountiful;
7. "Who safeguards grace for thousands of generations,* who forgives sins and obligations, but who absolutely does not sanctify* [those who sin and fail their duties;] however, He does command the love of parents upon their children and upon their children's children, to the third and fourth generations" (Victor N. Alexander‘s translation from the ancient Aramaic, emphasis mine).
Notes:
*34:5 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "And called by the name: Lord." NB! This and the subsequent passage leave little doubt that it was the Triune God that was manifested through the Father (Lord,) the Son (Lord) and the Holy Spirit (symbolized by the cloud.)
*34:6 Lit. Ar. id.: "Flowing."
*34:7.1 Lit. Ar. id.: Or: "centuries."
*34:7.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Sanctifyingly sanctify."
*34:7.3 NB! All other translations have translated this passage in error, suggesting that God punishes children and grandchildren for three to four generations because their parents sinned.
AHH! Look at that! The end of Exodus 34:7 is a gloss. No one else's sins are being visited upon us. God simply does not "sanctifyingly sanctify" us if we sin OR FAIL OUR DUTIES. What duties? To recognize God, to honor him, to respect him, to submit ourselves to his authority, to be humble in our position, to love our neighbors, our children --- could go on all day. Do, as it were, the nature of God: mercy, grace, flowing of spirit, forgiving sins and obligations, fulfilling duties, and loving. Teach your children and grandchildren well.
See? God is no monster punishing children for what great-grandpa (or great-grandma) did. AND YET EVERY CHURCH IN THE WORLD IS TEACHING IT WRONG!!
Well, every church except the Ancient Aramaic Church and possibly the Church of the East.
As imaginal acts of the Ineffable, we are beholden and obliged to the Ineffable for our existence. We exist for Its purposes, which I believe is Its becoming manifest. We are responsible to the Ineffable to manifest It. What do we Do? What CAN we do? Imagine. Our duty is to recognize and respect the Ineffable and engage in Its action: God. Our "God" is the Ineffable's imagination; i.e., the Ineffable’s ACTION. Imagination is the limit of Its activity, Its door to experience. Our imagination we offer up to God to perform with full faith in Its ability to experience its fulfillment.
*I believe that 'Adam' is God's life-force in each person, the Spirit-consciousness which makes us alive as living human beings. We, that Spirit-consciousness, transcended to become our human consciousness, BUT JUST ABOUT EVERYONE BELIEVES THAT 'ADAM' WAS A HUMAN BEING WHO STARTED THE HUMAN RACE. I did, too, for a long time as a fundamentalist.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
1:37 AM
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