Isaiah, chapters 46 and 47

We read chapters 46 and 47 in our Isaiah Bible study class yesterday. We ended up in a very interesting conversation about the nature of God.

Some talked about contrasting views of God: angry God vs. loving God, Old Testament God vs. New Testament God.

Others saw the descriptions of God as being just the normal language of biblical times, connecting their views and experiences of God with the natural world. Life and death happens to everyone and everything. In our times, most of us no longer live on farms, so we are quite insulated from the experience and the reality of death. People of biblical times were always, somehow, close to death, and so the language of life and death was a natural way to talk about God.

Others talked about the political situation. In biblical times, Israel was a tiny country surrounded by other countries that were giants. As these giants fought with each other they inevitably crossed through Israel's territory, fighting as they went. Israel was like the little kid who was always getting beaten up by the bigger bullies and losing his lunch money. When someone constantly finds herself / himself on the bottom of a fight, always getting their lights punched out, it's human nature - self-preservation - to ask for a larger power to come help and give back some of what they've been dishing out.

So read some of Isaiah, find the places that describe God differently, think about your life, and add a comment. What do you think? What is God like in your thinking?