I just became a paid subscriber, and just started listening to Sunday School. Thank you for this!
I do have one question that is frustrating me to a worrying degree; why, if Abram was unfaithful to God by taking Lot and his servants and livestock with him on his journey to Canaan, does Paul say that he was faithful in going out to a land that he didn’t know, and that it was credited to him as righteousness?
That would seem to mean that he didn’t do anything wrong here, or in going to Egypt during the famine (Jacob and his family do the same thing, and that wasn’t a sin, was it?).
I often despise “complexity”- I don’t want to live in a world where the heroes of my faith are evil. I have to live with that or I’ll never really grow up.
Edit: I guess “evil” might be too dramatic; I mean that, despite being taught that the Protestant idea of God’s grace covering up our sins despite our sinful nature was wrong, it still feels hard to deny that when the father of faith itself screwed up in so many ways immediately after God actually spoke to him, and God still counted him as righteous.
This is a great question! In fact, what St Paul is quoting, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, actually comes from Genesis 15:6, three chapters AFTER Genesis 12 (which we discussed in the podcast this week). Although Abram does Indeed show faithfulness, at least to a certain degree, in following God to a place that he did not know, it is not until chapter 15 that he really begins to show his faith and trust in God’s promises in the famous “number the stars of you are able to” passage. Of course, he still blows it in a pretty big way in the following chapter by sleeping with his wife’s slave, Hagar, so despite his faith, he continues to fall short. What Paul is referring to, is Abraham having faith that God will still provide descendants, despite the odds being seemingly stacked against him.
Sometimes your students are too smart, and they miss really basic questions for us slow kids in the back. For example, Jesus said "don't tell anybody" but obviously they did. Why did that happen?
I think the main theme of the second Sunday readings year A is the journey of faith of which Christ shows us the goal
I just became a paid subscriber, and just started listening to Sunday School. Thank you for this!
I do have one question that is frustrating me to a worrying degree; why, if Abram was unfaithful to God by taking Lot and his servants and livestock with him on his journey to Canaan, does Paul say that he was faithful in going out to a land that he didn’t know, and that it was credited to him as righteousness?
That would seem to mean that he didn’t do anything wrong here, or in going to Egypt during the famine (Jacob and his family do the same thing, and that wasn’t a sin, was it?).
What do I have wrong here?
Thank you.
I often despise “complexity”- I don’t want to live in a world where the heroes of my faith are evil. I have to live with that or I’ll never really grow up.
Edit: I guess “evil” might be too dramatic; I mean that, despite being taught that the Protestant idea of God’s grace covering up our sins despite our sinful nature was wrong, it still feels hard to deny that when the father of faith itself screwed up in so many ways immediately after God actually spoke to him, and God still counted him as righteous.
This is a great question! In fact, what St Paul is quoting, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”, actually comes from Genesis 15:6, three chapters AFTER Genesis 12 (which we discussed in the podcast this week). Although Abram does Indeed show faithfulness, at least to a certain degree, in following God to a place that he did not know, it is not until chapter 15 that he really begins to show his faith and trust in God’s promises in the famous “number the stars of you are able to” passage. Of course, he still blows it in a pretty big way in the following chapter by sleeping with his wife’s slave, Hagar, so despite his faith, he continues to fall short. What Paul is referring to, is Abraham having faith that God will still provide descendants, despite the odds being seemingly stacked against him.
Thank you. I think I get it at least a little bit better now.
On a lighter note, J.D. insisting on calling Moses “Moishe” is funny to me, though I don’t know why.
If you want to go for the Hebrew pronunciation, you should also call Elijah “Eliahu”! 🤓
Sometimes your students are too smart, and they miss really basic questions for us slow kids in the back. For example, Jesus said "don't tell anybody" but obviously they did. Why did that happen?
By the way, I was very struck by JD’s comment about how Peter may have been feeling after receiving his rebuke from Jesus a week before, which became the inspiration for my homily. https://substack.com/@aarona851065/note/p-189596340?r=rp8gt&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action