Biblical atrocities

Hmm. Am I evangelical? Guess that depends on definitions again but in terms of what evangelical means as a verb, yes I am. Am I trapped in some sort of interpretive methodology? Sounds grand, but I think I would need clarification before reaching an absolute conclusion. I don’t feel trapped though.
Perhaps someone is making grandiose assertions.

Richard

The story might be genuine, even though it didn’t make it into the canon. It was known by some of the church fathers, such as Papias.

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The story of the story is mired in controversy, more than any other included in our Bibles.

Why is it that the most powerful account of Jesus’ transcendent intelligence is first alluded to by Eusebius in the C4th referring to Papias’ lost C2nd reference to a lost apocryphal ‘gospel’?

If the PA is authentic, i.e. preserved by the Holy Spirit, why by this bizarre process?

Despite a conspiracy by other more patriarchal church fathers to suppress it? As soon as John wrote it?

In Hesekiel 18, there is a strong condemnation of the idea that children have to suffer because of what their parents did.

The problem here is that we do not inherit only DNA, we inherit also the social environment, including attitudes, teachings and practices. Sons tend to follow the ways of their fathers and women tend to become more similar to their mothers as they age. If persons are condemned based on what they have done, it often happens that their children travel the same road and repeat the same errors. But this is not a rule, the children can select another road and find favor in front of God. The history of kings told in the biblical scriptures shows this very well.

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I believe that some of the cognitive dissonance is that in the ANE and Eastern cultures, the family, not the individual, is the unit. To punish a person, one would wipe out his descendants from the earth.

Thanks.

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This article seems relevant to the overall topic: 6 Wrong Ways to Approach Difficult Bible Passages (thegospelcoalition.org)

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Great post! Thanks

Daniel, thank you for taking this up/on. I will be reading, but I am running against a deadline, so I most force myself to the library, not even the sideline.

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