Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good morning, dear ones.
Whether we like it or not, we always seem to have weather. So far this morning, it’s all over the place—pouring rain and blowing wind, to bright sunshine and calm. It’s presently in between. I just hope that when a guy shows up about 9:30am to have me do some sawmill work, it won’t be the pouring rain type.
About noon we’ll be heading to Eugene to attend a birthday bash for a family member turning 80. We’ll be taking the little boys along with us in full charge as Thano works all day. Hope it goes without too much crisis.
Blessings on your day’s adventure.
Love. Dad/Ray.
Moving through these chapters of Biblical history is definitely no casual walk through the park for me. It’s more like strenuous work—grappling and wrestling with ideas—struggling to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Rather than attempt to spin off on any particular verse, I’m choosing to respond to this passage in general, and try to give some attention to the general bottom line.
Whew! Now that the revolution under Absalom was quenched, which consumed the lives of over 20,000 soldiers, King David returned to Jerusalem to carry on with his administration, and the nation of Israel was now free to live happily ever after. Right? Not a chance! That very victory brought with it more problems. And from there the same cycle of tension, conflict, jealousy, vengeance, killing, and war carried on unabated. Why? I would love to hear your best answer. Here’s my best answer in a nutshell: MAN IS A SINNER IN NEED OF A SAVIOR. Can you beat that one—and still make it compatible with the landscapes of both Biblical and world histories?
We cannot deny that human history, although filled with huge amounts of ugliness, is also filled with huge amounts of beauty—dignity, benevolence, nobility, faithfulness, kindness, forgiveness, courage, love, loyalty, art, creativity, etc. This list could be a mile long too. So, does this disprove the thesis above?—that MAN IS A SINNER IN NEED OF A SAVIOR? I don’t believe so. These attractive qualities are actually God things—evidences of His embedded image and likeness, but, due to THE FALL, coexist with the NATURAL SIN NATURE. The Bible makes it clear that no amount of these good attractive qualities is good enough to fix the fall—to repair the wreck—to preclude the pedigree—to put the Humpty Dumpty of the NATURAL SIN NATURE back together again. A person who would step forward to affirm, “Not me! I am clean. There is no sin in me. Let me tell you how wonderful I am—kind, honest, loving, serving, sacrificing, etc. Therefore I deserve eternal life.”—that person is actually confirming their own transgression on two counts:
- The Bible declares them to be a liar.
- They are calling God a liar (1 John 1:5-10).
PS: Question: How did David know for sure that God really said what someone said God said (21:1)? I’m not so sure David got it right. My cross cultural experience within the mindset of animism lends some influence to my thinking. That mindset persistently looks for spiritual causes for physical effects. And there are piles of flakey spiritual discerners within that worldview who put forth all kinds of flakey explanations for accidents, disasters, sicknesses, and deaths. While it would be appropriate to acknowledge Saul’s failure to honor a treaty made way back in Joshua 9:15-21, I have a very difficult time believing that God really ordered seven counts of human sacrifice as a solution to this three-year famine.