NS,,,read my post #70 and 79, and Dee's #85.... are the verses cited contrary to each other, or minimally do people interpret passages form the vengeful perspective.... or from the reinstatement perspective? If we read some of the other Gospels things get clearer, but that is not allowed.. Let's just say that Abraham had no troubles with his sons, and was legally married to Hagar as I pointed out. (Other Gospels point to a name changes between the two also, but let's not go there now.) If you had a second wife from a different tribe would you love here less, if she bore sons would you love them less or squelch their inheritances and so forth?. This is in part what I mean about suspending intellect, a general statement by the way and not aimed at Dee. So, when reading the Bible one might want to ask himself am I reading this to support certain prognostications or am I open to the message at large. In any case, I'm of the opinion that today religion is being used to foment war more than at any other time in history. I also fear that the evangelicals are not the real Christians but are the return of the Pharisees incarnate, something that will be evident one of these days. If you are a serious religion student than make it your business to study the no-a-hide laws. I have no problems with anything Jesus has said of course, he even saying "I am of the sword."
..TM7
I read the posts & Dee nailed it!! The ONLY thing in your posts that demands further study is the age difference of the 2, I will look at that
some more Wed, Thur.
At first reading (glance) it appeared to warrant further study. As it turned out, it was not the case at all.
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave
IT unto Hagar, putting
IT on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba"
She was given the bread, but the
ONLY thing put on her shoulder was the water, no doubt a "skin" of water & often with straps. Neither the child or even the bread was put on her back, it is clear KJV tried to make this clear but using
IT not once but twice, but since we use a little diff. verbage these days I had to look at it a second to see it, my bad.
From Verse 18: "and hold him in thine hand". Well, I looked at how many different ways the word "hand" is used in the Scriptures & it is used
much more & in more far reaching ways than we do today. In his hands, at the hand of, "thy right hand hath holden me up", on & on. It matters not
if the verse had said to hold him in his loving arms, hold to your bosom or anything else. Remember to, lad is more often used in reference to a boy & not a baby. Besides, a mother does not pick up a baby with one hand, or a child of any age for that matter, it is merely a term here, as she would not have picked up any size child by a hand.
Remember that Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham, God did not. Sarah was being weak here, not understanding how God's promise to Abraham would
be fulfilled. So, in this weakness she made a bad decision, which was contrary to God's plan & Sarah would not change God's plan.
Isaac was the child of promise, that promise being that through Abrahams seed all nations would be blessed. By that of course he meant that through his seed Christ would come & this is how all nations would be blessed. This is not to say that there would not be a great nation through
Ishmael in number at least, or other nations as in Asia, Africa or elsewhere, the Bible does not say otherwise. But the great Spiritual nation would be through Christ. So from a spiritual standpoint, the blessings would flow through Isaac, God's promise to Abraham & Sarah & the only son from that
standpoint. That is not ot say that Isaac was the only biological son & God wasn't trying to tell him that, how silly is that?
No, the Bible has no contradictions.
Like I said before, Dee nailed it. I have no more need to discuss this, as I am still young enough that I need to work, so I am going to see some customers now. Any so called contradiction can be dealt with, but on this forum why? I am willing to study with anyone, but that is not what we are doing here.
