Thursday, February 24, 2011
Finishing Numbers
This is just some free flow thinking...After finishing Numbers I feel like there was alot of complaining going on. I get a feeling that God was very frustrated with the amount of complaining that was going on. I don't say that I blame him. He promised these people a land of milk and honey and what do they do, they defy him, build alters to idol gods, complain some more. On the other hand, when they left Egypt, did they really know what they signed up for? How many years did they roam the desert? A family that left Egypt, would never see the promised land, only their descendants. It is interesting that a group of people would leave Egypt possibly knowing that not they, but their 4th or 5th generation would be the ones to benefit from the move. In the same way that is God was unhappy with someone, their family would suffer for generations. It kinda makes you wonder about a Christian life today. Are we suffering for the sins of the figures from our previous generations? An interesting question that the New Testament might answer very easily. I don't feel like I am suffering, is this how the generations the Lord punished felt. Punishment becomes the norm.? You don't notice that you are being cursed? I am sure M or J3 will have some interesting comments to this. I would love to hear it. Let's discuss.
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A very interesting question, whether or not God causes us to suffer for the sins of our ancestors. In a strictly human sense (no divine intervention), your sins could certainly have an affect on your descendants. You can see a person's or a family's way of life being passed down to their children and children's children. Things like drug use, over eating, having children out of wedlock, etc., etc. How you live your life definitely affects your family (e.g. how would you like your last name to be Hitler?).
ReplyDeleteThat kind of stuff seems pretty self-explanatory. But is that what the Bible means there? Or does God cause there to be additional consequences that aren't so direct for the descendants? That would seem unfair and maybe even petty of God to do that. After all a child would seem to have no control or responsibility what its parents do. Why punish them? But the text does seem to indicate that it's more of an active punishment by God, and not the passive consequence of the person's actions...