Posted on 08/01/2014 2:50:12 AM PDT by markomalley
Msgr Pope ping.
One point he doesn’t bring up about the Exodus is that God said, “... and I will execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt.” Well, Pharoah WAS one of the gods of Egypt!
Pharoah hurt his own people, plus Pharoah ordered a greater death toll on the Hebrews than God allowed to be inflicted by the plagues.
http://christianthinktank.com/killheir.html
Then, Pharoah hardened his own heart, not God. Pharaoh wasn’t willing to humble himself, even when his own priests and court magicians came to confessing that the Hebrew God was God.
The little I HAVE read, compared to the two replies (so far) warrant a more careful study of the points Pope is (trying to) make
And Exodus 14:4, "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord."
Even more than other parts of the Old Testament, the events of the Exodus have to be considered in the light of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. This is the central event of, well, of everything, and all other events have meaning in relation to it.
Msgr. Pope could write an interesting piece about the phrase “... know that I am the LORD.” It’s found in many contexts, including in Ezekiel’s “dry bones” passage.
I’ve always assumed it was a manner of speaking that meant God allowed it to happen, I.e didn’t intervene to prevent, not that he actively did this.
Ping!
No question that He did harden some human hearts - the real question is whether He continues to do so under the New Covenant...
Read Romans 1:18 - 32. Seems it gives some clarity to the issue.
Continuing in sin once warned by God (as Moses warned Pharoah) results in a hardening of one’s heart - a willful blindness perhaps. God made man this way - the more he resists any revelation from God - the blinder he becomes, and the harder his heart becomes.
The converse is also true. The more one receives revelation from God, and acts upon it, the more light is given to one.
Did God have an active part in this? Scripture clearly says so. BUT, it does not exclude man’s part. And his reaction to God’s truth (light, revelation) will always bear the fruit of man’s reaction.
What is God’s part and what is man’s part is a mystery that we probably will never comprehend until we see His face and are with Him.
Our insisting on comprehending something beyond us results in our taking one of two sides: The hyper-Calvinist ultra-predestination view, or its opposite - that man decides everything. Both are error. If they exclude the other.
Scripture clearly presents both as being concurrently true, and our finite minds cannot comprehend this.
"To him who has will more be given, but from him who has not, even what little he has will be taken away."
It seems that atheists have their hearts hardened by the thought of God and gets harder as time goes on. I think it is a process that God affects everyone. Hearts are changed by all. The hearts of those who fear him turn toward him and those who hate him turn away. The more we are exposed the more we either harden or soften. Its a our reaction to God that causes change.
That's true of many different concepts. For example:
Is God just, or merciful? Both, 100%.
Is Jesus God, or man? Both, 100%.
Thank you for posting those. Msgr. Pope is a great homilist.
Absolutely right-on.
While God is incomprehensible, He has indeed revealed Himself in scripture - but primarily in His Son - who is the full revelation of who He is.......
Because He is God, there is much more to Him than we can comprehend, and indeed, scripture says it will take all of eternity for Him to reveal Himself to us.....
But the revelation that we now have in scripture and the Lord Jesus are all we need.......for this life.......and there are volumes more that He wants to reveal to us here and now, just as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:9 ff........
As someone said, we can have as much of God as we want........
A couple more passages on the subject:
(BBE)
Rom 9:18 So then, at his pleasure he has mercy on a man, and at his pleasure he makes the heart hard.
(BBE)
Rom 11:5 In the same way, there are at this present time some who are marked out by the selection of grace.
Rom 11:6 But if it is of grace, then it is no longer of works: or grace would not be grace.
Rom 11:7 What then? That which Israel was searching for he did not get, but those of the selection got it and the rest were made hard.
Rom 11:8 As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day.
Exactly. We have free will. He knows what is to come as the result of our rebellion, but we own the responsibility.
Good article.
If one remembers that God is love and everything that He does is for love, then we understand that every heart He hardens, every act of wrath that is outpoured, is in response to our rebellion and God breaking through our rebellious spirit.
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