"Ariaan" wrote ...
> For some reason God had chosen the decendents of Abraham to be His people.
> God could do that, because He is a sovereign God, and does not have to
tell
> us why He does things the way He does.
> So these people were His special people, through which He would bring the
> Messiah into the world. The other peoples were heathens and did not
worship
> Him and some eventually called His wrath upon themselves. But had they
> repented of their ways, that would not have been the case. Look for
instance
> at the history of Jonah and Nineveh; the Ninevites repented of their ways
> and consequently God spared the city, much to the dismay of Jonah, who in
> 21st century terms had already installed himself with a sixpack and a bag
of
> potatoe chips in front of the television, ready to enjoy the spectacle.
God
> always has mercy on those who repent.
> So for some reason, unknown to us, God had chosen this people to be His
> special people, but everyone who worshipped Him could come into the
> congregation of the Israelites and be circumcised and have part in the
> covenant.
This isn't true, the Bible says otherwise. The Hebrews aparently had a
racist God who thought *they* were special....not some other race but
*them*. Think about it, why would the omnipotent creator of the universe
give a damn about genetics? Only humans care about that.
>Perhaps not with the same rights as the Israelites, because only
> they were His people, but still members of God's congregation and thus
> blessed with the same blessings that the Israelites would receive. So the
> key part in this is the fact that one had to worship God to be accepted in
> His congregation. And while the old covenant was especially for God's
chosen
> people, the new would be for the entire world. God's mercy is boundless
for
> those who seek Him ernestly. And that is what Rahab the whore did, and
that
> is what Ruth did. Both were from other peoples, but both recognised God
for
> who He is and His people for who they were. And they knew who to turn to,
> and where they had a real future. And God rewarded them for that, by
> accepting them into His congregation and even giving them a special place:
> foremother of the Messiah. Not because they were so good of themselves,
but
> as a sign of the coming covenant, which would be extended to the gentiles
as
> well. That is why exactly these two remarkable women appear in the lineage
> of Christ: as a sign that one day God's grace would be extended to all the
> peoples of the world, as God had already promised Abraham ("In thee shall
> all the the families of the earth be blessed.")
So it sounds like the "system" that Jesus brought forth [no special people]
was an IMPROVEMENT over what the Father implemented. Jesus should not have
had to improve anything...it could have been that way from the beginning.
> So it is not a contradiction, but a remarkable sign of God's infinite
grace.
>
> Ariaan
>
>
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