There are a lot of mysteries in the Bible: What did Jesus write on the ground? What happened to Jesus in between ages 12 and 30? What in the world does the Book of Revelation actually mean?
Personally, I think that if these things were truly important, they would have been written down. Some people get very bothered about those things, and I can somewhat understand, but I think too often we get sidetracked by things that might not have any real significance, and we miss the things that are truly important. The disciples asked Jesus why He taught in parables. A lot of Bible scholars will tell you that He was trying to relate things in such a way that people would understand them. In an agrarian culture, it made sense to relate the Kingdom of Heaven to farming (even though sometimes the characters in His parables did things that wouldn’t make sense to a farmer, He managed to get His point across). There is a great deal of truth to that, and yet, the answer that Jesus gave was, so that seeing they might see, and yet not understand. Why would He not want people to understand? Didn’t He come to earth to teach us what we needed to know? Isn’t that what the parables were all about?
The point is, Jesus wanted people who were willing to put forth a little effort into understanding His teachings to be able to, but He also wanted people that had no interest in truth to be able to walk away with whatever ideas that they brought with them. He wasn’t trying to force people to believe, but He was making the Gospel message attainable.
When I was younger, I wondered why it was that God led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, but then made them exterminate the Canaanites that lived there. Couldn’t God have wiped out the inhabitants, or convinced them to move? Of course He could have, but what they obtained too easily, the Israelites would have esteemed too lightly. The same thing holds true for us, today. If all the knowledge of God were simply handed to us, it would mean very little to us; we would probably take it for granted. So, God gave it to us in a form that needs to be studied to be understood, and even then, to get a true understanding, one would need to spend a considerable amount of time in prayer, asking God to help us to understand.
Alternatively, if we did what we did only because we knew that it was required of us (and there was no question about what was required), then there wouldn’t be much (if any) reward for that. I’ve heard people make the statement that you just can’t legislate morality. In the sense that no framework of laws can exist that will force people to be moral, that is a true statement. We have had people that tried to be thought-police, but you really can’t be sure that another human being is thinking the right things, or acting out of the right motives. If I do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, I may convince most of my neighbors that I am a terrific guy, but God is not fooled. God wants us to do the right things for the right reasons, so He gives us wiggle-room in the commandments. Does this mean this, or does it mean that? What if I misinterpret what God wants? If the motivation is right, then God will understand, and forgive, an honest mistake. If one is just trying to see how much one can get away with, though, that’s not going to fly. If one gets caught up in trying to understand all of the intricacies of things that don’t really even pertain to them, then it becomes very easy to lose focus on what things are truly important. Don’t allow yourself to become sidetracked; seek the face of God, and allow Him to direct your paths.
Personally, I think that if these things were truly important, they would have been written down. Some people get very bothered about those things, and I can somewhat understand, but I think too often we get sidetracked by things that might not have any real significance, and we miss the things that are truly important. The disciples asked Jesus why He taught in parables. A lot of Bible scholars will tell you that He was trying to relate things in such a way that people would understand them. In an agrarian culture, it made sense to relate the Kingdom of Heaven to farming (even though sometimes the characters in His parables did things that wouldn’t make sense to a farmer, He managed to get His point across). There is a great deal of truth to that, and yet, the answer that Jesus gave was, so that seeing they might see, and yet not understand. Why would He not want people to understand? Didn’t He come to earth to teach us what we needed to know? Isn’t that what the parables were all about?
The point is, Jesus wanted people who were willing to put forth a little effort into understanding His teachings to be able to, but He also wanted people that had no interest in truth to be able to walk away with whatever ideas that they brought with them. He wasn’t trying to force people to believe, but He was making the Gospel message attainable.
When I was younger, I wondered why it was that God led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, but then made them exterminate the Canaanites that lived there. Couldn’t God have wiped out the inhabitants, or convinced them to move? Of course He could have, but what they obtained too easily, the Israelites would have esteemed too lightly. The same thing holds true for us, today. If all the knowledge of God were simply handed to us, it would mean very little to us; we would probably take it for granted. So, God gave it to us in a form that needs to be studied to be understood, and even then, to get a true understanding, one would need to spend a considerable amount of time in prayer, asking God to help us to understand.
Alternatively, if we did what we did only because we knew that it was required of us (and there was no question about what was required), then there wouldn’t be much (if any) reward for that. I’ve heard people make the statement that you just can’t legislate morality. In the sense that no framework of laws can exist that will force people to be moral, that is a true statement. We have had people that tried to be thought-police, but you really can’t be sure that another human being is thinking the right things, or acting out of the right motives. If I do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, I may convince most of my neighbors that I am a terrific guy, but God is not fooled. God wants us to do the right things for the right reasons, so He gives us wiggle-room in the commandments. Does this mean this, or does it mean that? What if I misinterpret what God wants? If the motivation is right, then God will understand, and forgive, an honest mistake. If one is just trying to see how much one can get away with, though, that’s not going to fly. If one gets caught up in trying to understand all of the intricacies of things that don’t really even pertain to them, then it becomes very easy to lose focus on what things are truly important. Don’t allow yourself to become sidetracked; seek the face of God, and allow Him to direct your paths.
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