RetiredAg said:People turn things into gods all the time. My concern is to have a consistent reading of Scripture, which is based on the core belief that God is perfect and righteous and that God looks like Christ. Genocidal portraits of God do not look anything like Christ, and since He's the "radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature", there must be something else going on in those texts. That's what a cruciform hermeneutic is meant to address. Yes, there are assumptions made, but that's part of faith.Jarrel04 said:RetiredAg said:Wait, your criticism is that a Christian hermeneutic operates on the assumption that God is perfect and righteous? What Christian hermeneutic doesn't start with that assumption?Quote:
Do you not see that your hermeneutic assumes and requires god be perfect and righteous thus you dismiss any evidence to the contrary and seek any alternative explanation to justify your preconceived position?
I don't "dismiss" evidence. When a portrait of God looks nothing like Christ, who is the exact revelation of God, then one needs to dig deeper to better understand the "evidence". It's not dismissing it, but trying to understand it in a way that is consistent with the portrait of God revealed through Christ on the cross.
Do you not see that with this reasoning you could turn any person place or thing into god? It doesn't allow for you to be wrong because the answer is predetermined and any contrary evidence is just misunderstood.
Perhaps a better way to phrase my objection is that this is not truth seeking behavior. This is deciding the conclusion then doing whatever necessary to conform the facts to your predetermined conclusion.
You may call it faith but I feel it is an unhealthy form of faith. This is why I make the point that you can turn anything into a perfect loving god if you presume it is perfect and loving then dismiss or contort evidence to the contrary to your predetermined conclusion. Does that make sense? There is literally nothing that could change your mind in this construct. That is why I say it is not truth seeking behavior.