Ideas about the Kingdom of the Heavens around us and the unity of believers in Christ within it
After Peter preached his first sermon, on the day of Pentecost, his hearers asked “what must we do to be saved?” His answer was “repent and be baptized.” Those who believed his message repented by giving up their claims of self-ownership and self-reliance and starting to live in community with each other, sharing freely as any had need.
When God sent Moses to deliver his people from Egypt, the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt responded to some of the plagues with false repentance. That is, he tried to “make a deal” with God, and even admitted that he was in the wrong, only to renege on his agreements as soon as God removed the plague. With each “deal” on which he reneged, his heart became more hardened. But this is always what happens when, out of fear or remorse, we try to “make a deal” with God rather than obey him.
Like the rich man who ignored the needs of poor Lazarus in the parable, those who self-indulgently use their wealth and are indifferent to the needs of the poor need to repent. But, because they are accustomed to ignoring God, most have rendered themselves incapable of repentance–even if someone rises from the dead to warn them (as Jesus did).
True repentance would have required high priest Eli to act to remove his sons Hophni and Phinehas from office. Hophni and Phinehas were using God and their offices as a magical charm and using others, as many in the Church do today. The people also learned to do these things from their example. Instead of removing them, Eli just nagged them, and he and all Israel paid the penalty.
The New Testament uses a number of different words to describe sin, its causes and its effects, in the context of confession, repentance and forgiveness. These words are not synonyms, and distinguishing them is important to understanding many of the contexts in which they are used.
Judas demonstrates the difference between worldly remorse and true repentance. Judas was truly remorseful after he saw Jesus would die because of his betrayal, and he tried to fix things himself. When that failed, he hanged himself. He was remorseful, but never repented of doing things his own way.
When Jesus unfavorably compared the unrepentance of the Galilean towns where he had preached to the repentance Tyre, Sidon and Sodom would have shown to the same preaching. the repentance of which he spoke clearly included behavioral change.
God did not curse Adam and Eve when they sinned. He told them what the mostly natural evil consequences of their decision to live apart from him would be. In doing this, he did NOT decree any of these evil consequences as things as a part of his perfect will. Sexual and class inequalities are evil consequences of sin, not God’s will.
When the first humans, who already knew all good, chose to disobey God and experience evil, they initiated every kind of idolatry known to later generations. This included worship of created things, of themselves, their own wisdom and their own desires, of their bodies, and, most importantly, of a false picture of the true God as miserly and hostile toward us.
A God who Speaks, An abuse of God's image, Conversation with God, Desire to have our own way, Free will, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's Voice, His Friends, idolatry, Knowing good and evil, Restoration of God's Image, To fill and govern the Earth, Trusting sight over God's words, Truth and Falsehood, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word
Idols are gods we think we can manipulate to give us our own way, individually, corporately or nationally, through service, sacrifices and offerings. The true God cannot be so manipulated, but we can convert even the true God into an idol in our own minds by supposing that he can be.