You have mistaken this to be a forum in which to investigate my salvation or some such, and proselytize. It is not. Nor do I need any real estate advice. I would thank you to look elsewhere for souls to save.
As I indicated in the post, I see many efforts at clarification as incomplete, at best. They often simply aver that such-and-such means X, not Y, and so we don’t have to consider Y. Even though Y looks like a pretty good interpretation. Or simply ignore Y altogether.
Let’s take a look at the first verse you mention: Jeremiah 31:33: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
This is in the context of an immediately preceding declaration from God: “. . . I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, . . .” We find repeated that the covenant is to be with the people of Israel and Judah, that they will be the beneficiaries of it, not “all people”. So, immediately, we’re left with looking elsewhere for justification that the new covenant will apply to everyone. And just reading on, in verse 34 and beyond, things get stickier, more difficult. Here it is: “34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
So all those Sunday School classes, three years of confirmation class, Bible studies, etc. are apparently unnecessary, even, it seems, a contradiction of the prophecy: “. . . no long shall one teach his neighbor . . . .” And “they shall all know [God].”
When I watch people being people, each in their own way, it’s not slam-dunk obvious that each of them has the law of God written in, on, or in a pamphlet near, their hearts. Maybe I should only be looking at the people of the house of Israel and the house of Judah? A good-sized chunk of the population is accusing something that looks like it might be the modern remnant of the house of Israel of genocide in Gaza. And of course excluding all the good Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, and others—leaving aside the billions of non-Christians—doesn’t leave us with a nice and cozy explanation.
So I’m gonna stick with ‘problematic’, as overused and beaten-up as the word is at present. I understand that some people do find what seem to them very satisfactory explanation, clarification, etc. in this or that sermon, scripture, or, today, screenplay, or whatever. That doesn’t change the simple fact that many, many people, some of them not just reasonable but having themselves thought long and hard about the matters at hand, find difficulties, even contradictions, and more, in Holy Scripture.
I feel a need to be clear, though, that I don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here. I think there are deep truths in the Bible. But, like any garden, there are weeds amongst the flowers and vegetables. Some of the seed never sprouted. Some plants are stunted, bent, or broken. There’s work to be done, and it’s often not easy.
You have mistaken this to be a forum in which to investigate my salvation or some such, and proselytize. It is not. Nor do I need any real estate advice. I would thank you to look elsewhere for souls to save.
O this is mighty wonderful, Perry!
A seeker seeking understanding
Thank you for sharing your dance
with this passage of scripture
The more we dance with each other
and with God
the more we understand
Fortunately words are never inerrant
but our desire to hear and be heard is
Banned for harassment.
As I indicated in the post, I see many efforts at clarification as incomplete, at best. They often simply aver that such-and-such means X, not Y, and so we don’t have to consider Y. Even though Y looks like a pretty good interpretation. Or simply ignore Y altogether.
Let’s take a look at the first verse you mention: Jeremiah 31:33: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
This is in the context of an immediately preceding declaration from God: “. . . I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, . . .” We find repeated that the covenant is to be with the people of Israel and Judah, that they will be the beneficiaries of it, not “all people”. So, immediately, we’re left with looking elsewhere for justification that the new covenant will apply to everyone. And just reading on, in verse 34 and beyond, things get stickier, more difficult. Here it is: “34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
So all those Sunday School classes, three years of confirmation class, Bible studies, etc. are apparently unnecessary, even, it seems, a contradiction of the prophecy: “. . . no long shall one teach his neighbor . . . .” And “they shall all know [God].”
When I watch people being people, each in their own way, it’s not slam-dunk obvious that each of them has the law of God written in, on, or in a pamphlet near, their hearts. Maybe I should only be looking at the people of the house of Israel and the house of Judah? A good-sized chunk of the population is accusing something that looks like it might be the modern remnant of the house of Israel of genocide in Gaza. And of course excluding all the good Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, and others—leaving aside the billions of non-Christians—doesn’t leave us with a nice and cozy explanation.
So I’m gonna stick with ‘problematic’, as overused and beaten-up as the word is at present. I understand that some people do find what seem to them very satisfactory explanation, clarification, etc. in this or that sermon, scripture, or, today, screenplay, or whatever. That doesn’t change the simple fact that many, many people, some of them not just reasonable but having themselves thought long and hard about the matters at hand, find difficulties, even contradictions, and more, in Holy Scripture.
I feel a need to be clear, though, that I don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here. I think there are deep truths in the Bible. But, like any garden, there are weeds amongst the flowers and vegetables. Some of the seed never sprouted. Some plants are stunted, bent, or broken. There’s work to be done, and it’s often not easy.