Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 2.3 KI
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[The intersection portrays a single actuality composed of two conflicting actualities. One actuality reveals values. The other reveals desires.]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[The intersection portrays a single actuality composed of two conflicting actualities. One actuality reveals values. The other reveals desires.]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[A nugget of wisdom appears.
The integrity of the individual may be formulated as an if…then statement.
IF the person’s mirror of the world reflects YHWH,
THEN freedom describes the potentials inherent in the person.
The individual becomes responsible and free.
IF the person’s mirror of the world does not reflect YHWH,
THEN bondage describes the potentials inherent in the person.
The individual loses responsibility (words) and becomes a slave (bondage).]
Summary of text [comment] page 83
[Schoonenberg ‘s comments fit into the interscope of the thought experiment where ‘I choose something’.
Values align with desires.
But they do not dwell there long.
Values contradict desires.
The single actuality in this intersection is ‘my heart2’.]
[In the graciousness of a Persian king, a remnant returned.
They built the second temple in Jerusalem.
Could this devotion be described as ‘bondage’?
No and yes.
No, the individual is ruled by YHWH.
Yes, the individual is ruled by an elite who claims to speak for God.]
[In Babylon, the exiles lost everything, except their values and their desires for YHWH.
In America, the exiles gained everything and lost their values and desires for YHWH.
What will happen now, once again, depends on Persia.]
[The Old Testament prophets held incredible expectations3a. The whole of Israel should serve YHWH.
And they failed. The whole of Israel failed, and the heart of Judah was excised and removed to Babylon.]
[In the Old Testament, the Zeitgeist was full of the erotic and lurid gods of Canaan.
Can you hear the siren calls of the temple prostitutes?
Old Testament men of God are YHWH’s servants3b.
They chose YHWH.
Their values overflowed their desires.]
[Each member of the tribe of Israel, is expected to choose2b YHWH, thus revealing “her” values1b.
But the challenge does not stop there.
Every child of Abraham, upon hearing the stories in Genesis, is called to ‘something2a’ that reveals “her” desires.
If this ‘something2a’ is anything other than YHWH, then all hell will break loose.
The vessel of “her” values1b will fill with delusions appearing in the Zeitgeist3a.
The vessel1b formed when choosing YHWH will burst, in thought3b(2b and deed2b(1b)), leaving the wayward child of God trapped in the words3a(2a that “she” takes to be real2a and in bondage2a(1a)) to the desires1a that they call forth in “her”.]
[Each member of the tribe of Israel, is expected to choose2b YHWH, thus revealing “his” values1b.
But the challenge does not stop there.
Every child of Abraham, upon hearing the stories in Genesis, is called to ‘something2a’ that reveals “his” desires1a.
Without this ‘something2a’, the vessel of “his” values2b stands empty.]
[Perhaps, the stories of Abraham were woven into a coherent narrative by the bards of Israel. They entered into the thought experiment for the tribes of Israel.
The thought experiment asks whether the children of Abraham not only value1b (thereby choose) God, but desire1a God as well.
YHWH is located as the something2a that reveals the desire1a of the tribes of Israel.]