Originally posted by FMF
Clumsy ideological devices such as these enable you to claim whatever you want, extrapolate whatever you want, and add whatever you want to the bible.
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No this does not enable me to claim whatever I want.
It does allow me to agree with the tenor of comparing how God spoke to the ancients and how He spoke to the latter believers.
"God having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son ...." (Heb. 1:1a)
He spoke to the ancients in the many righteous prophets and righteous men of the Old Testament. And in "these days' speaks to us
"in the Son".
Abel, Joshua, David, Solomon, and others help us to know something the Son of whom they were all pre-figures.
Very handy.
It is useful to seekers of God that the former things were written for our examples.
"Now these things occurred as examples to us, ... (1 Cor. 10:6a)
"Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our admonition, unto whom the ends of the ages have come." (v.11)
Things concerning Abel, Joseph, Samuel, David, Solomon, and others were written to help the lovers of the Son of God.
It does not mean I can say anything. That's your excuse to shut your mind to everything pertaining to God.
And you can top it off by insisting whatever you have conjured up "must" be true
No, i do not insist it must be true. I recommend it as helpful to consider how the lives of young righteous men must have reflected the young life of the Son of God.
and either accusing people who balk at your inventions as being "too superficial" or, when you sense principled dissent, muttering darkly about "Satan".
Principled dissent can be addressed with principled defense.
And some people complain there is not "enough" information about Jesus simply because the information that
is given they reject.
And, yes, Satan has a hand in this rejection.