Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 3

Avendano - 1

Jovany Avendano Dr. Keffer Theology September 13, 2013 Old Testament Readings Over all, I believe I share the same complain as the rest of my classmates, and that is that there were a lot of verses to read. That being said, a majority were actually really interesting and upon reading the assigned chapters, I began noticing certain themes. One of the major themes I noticed were the constant references to paganism. It is well documented that when new religions begin to take root, they adopt many of the ir predecessors customs and rituals to make the transition to the new religion easier. In the bible, I noticed this with the types of offerings the people would sacrifice to God. They would slay cattle, and burn incenses to God. A ritual done by Greeks to appease their unhappy pantheon of gods. Another theme I noticed was that apparently children in the bible did not really mean that much to their parents because as was seen in Sodom and by the test of Abrahams faith, their parents were willing to not only prostitute their daughter but sacrifice their one and only true son and burn him. This brings me to another point, as I was reading, I began noticing many unusual loopholes in the stories. For instance, in the story of the destruction of Gomorrah, Abraham is quoted speaking to God. But just exactly how is this occurring, because God is clearly responding back? Are we to assume that there is a booming voice in the sky holding a conversation with Abraham? Or is this all made up, but we are supposed to take a moral home

Avendano - 2

with us? The psychologist within me wants to believe that Abraham did in fact actually live, but instead he suffered from schizophrenia, which would resolve all these loopholes. Another contradiction I discovered was during the Nations Descended from Noah. In this chapter it describes all of the generations following Noah, and specifically how they all started their own people with their own language. In the story of babel, which is known by all to be about a bunch of people, with the same language working together to build a tower to reach the skies and God punishing them by making them speak different languages. How can the whole earth [have] one language if the different lineages of Noah developed different languages on their own? Lastly, upon finishing the assigned reading I noticed two unusual back tones. Upon reading the story of how Moses led his people out of Egypt, I got the feeling that God was trying to prove himself to not only the people, but actually wanted to make the Pharaoh suffer. In more than one occasion God is quoted saying that he will harden the Pharaohs heart. This makes it seem as if God wanted to enact all of his 10 plagues onto the Egyptian people. After reading this, I began to notice a change in the way God was being portrayed, which was further solidified with the readings of Hosea, Psalms, and Proverbs. Initially, as in Genesis, I made out God to be this wonderful, father, loving figure who takes care of his children and punishes his children when need be. But now, God appears to be a merciless God, who is trying to prove to his own creations who he is. Its almost as if he had given his people an ultimatum, which is seen when Moses returns with all the laws and commandants they need to follow. Later in Hosea and Psalms, it appears as if God had abandoned his people. As with the story of marrying

Avendano - 3

a harlot in Hosea, it seemed to be an unusual punishment for his people for being disobedient and worshipping Baal. How is marrying a harlot a punishment for wo rshipping a false idol? My last issue with the reading was that how was Moses on of Gods chosen if he wasnt even a true Jew, and by that I mean he was not circumcised, a clear sign of Gods people and covenant? Moses asked this of God multiple times, and yet he was favored by God. How is this fair, if others who want in on this great religion have to endure the pain of circumcision, while he didnt? If anything I learned two things from the readings, God, our father, clearly has favorites, and there are many, many unusual loopholes and contradictions in the bible.

Вам также может понравиться