Propaganda?
If I set out to write a holy book, would I include a passage like this one? Probably not.
Some claim that Christians have changed, diluted, or otherwise meddled with scripture but after seeing such passages I’m encouraged. Wouldn’t the Jews, a nation later enslaved by the pharaohs, paint Pharaoh in a worse light? Wouldn’t Abraham, the father of the nation, be portrayed as something other than a liar? Not in this case and plenty of others where the heroes of our faith, fail to measure up to what surely would be an acceptable standard for your average propaganda… Even ordinary history books must be taken with a grain of salt and a knowledge of background of the author.
This passage reassures me that the bible is not an ordinary book. The bible is a truer account than most and not a sanitised piece of prose.
Richard Venable
Hannah Venable
johncatmur
Anna S
thereceptionist
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Alan Collins
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joanna
on November 7th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I have often thought similar things. This is a good point! There are many parts of the Bible that show that the real hero is not the person in the story but God Himself! Sometimes I get frustrated with the people that God chooses because they keep doing stupid things. Abraham does this same thing a few chapters later (Genesis 20). And then his son Isaac does it too (Genesis 26)! You would think that they would learn their lesson.
But then I realize that I am so thankful that God has chosen me as His daughter and I do the same stupid things over and over again too. So it seems that the flaws not only show us that God is the real author of this book and that it is a truly exceptional book, but also that we are frail humans just like that the people that we read about.
Hannah