Arminian
Bible-hater Randal Rauser, whose material sometimes graces the Society of
Evangelical Arminians, loves to attack OT ethics. Recently, he’s been using
Jesus as a wedge issue. Would Jesus do some of the things commanded in the OT
which Rauser finds morally odious?
Several problems with his argument:
i) Jesus didn’t come to renew the old covenant, but to
inaugurate the new covenant.
ii) Do we expect one member of the Trinity (the Son) to
disapprove of what another Trinitarian person (the Spirit) did when he inspired
the OT?
iii) Finally, Rauser espouse as kenotic theory of Christ’s
knowledge:
But why go through these tortured machinations? Why not just admit that Jesus was a product of his time and thus could have non-culpably held to some false beliefs including false beliefs about science, politics, history, and human origins?
Given
Rauser’s kenotic Christology, even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that
the Mosaic law contains evil commands, what’s to prevent Jesus, with his
diminished moral and rational discernment, from obeying an evil OT command?
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a blessed Christmas season and I wish you a joyous new year. I don't hate the Bible, even though I dare to read it differently than you do.
I am open to a kenotic christology being the correct christology, but everything I say is consistent with a two-minds Chalcedonian christology as well.
I also would like to say that I'm really impressed with your relatively spirited defense of Jay Jeffrey Lowder against John Loftus' infantile attacks. And I bet if you knew me you'd be defending me too. It's much easier to demonize people you don't know.
RD Rauser
ReplyDelete"I don't hate the Bible, even though I dare to read it differently than you do."
That's one of your sophistical ploys. You pretend that this is just a difference in how we interpret Scripture. However, you and I generally read the offending passages the same way. The difference is not interpretive. Rather, you deny the offending passages.
Would Jesus do some of those things from the OT? If he's talking about holy war, and given Rev 19:11-18, I think the answer is yes, he would and will do pretty similar things, even taking account of the poetic imagery in that passage. Unless your Jesus is some kind of cut-down, half the story "gentle Jesus meek and mild"?
ReplyDelete