2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Hosea 14

1 Return, O Israel, to Yahweh your God, For you have stumbled in your iniquity. 3 Assyria will not save us; We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ To the work of our hands

Israel is given a last chance to repent, which they don't heed. They will turn to Assyria, be conquered, then be dispersed by the Assyrians. Ten of the tribes will be lost in the diaspora. Nevertheless, God did not allow them to be utterly wiped out so that they would not all be killed.

4 I will heal their turning away from Me; I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from them.

God's Law came to pass for Israel in their judgment by Assyria. God could've just left them there, but His Grace would not. Ultimately, this is looking forward to the New Covenant, where Christ will turn aside God's anger and bring them to faith in Christ; both in John 4, when the Samaritans come to faith when Jesus visits them, and in Acts 8, when Philip, Peter, and John preached the Gospel and baptized the Samaritans.

 

[Tippy]

Hosea 7


We have a poetry thread but I haven't posted in it because I would just post passages from the Bible, as cliche as that would be. The passages in the Bible are just too good. They're an acquired taste, but once you grasp the story and the themes in it then it all really clicks.

If Israel is the thesis of the OT then Egypt would be an antithesis. When the going got tough, the Israelites were tempted to go back to Egypt. This does not just mean that they were tempted to move back to the geographical area of Egypt, but that they were tempted to become Egyptians. God had taken them out of Egypt, but had He taken Egypt out of them?

This is the syncretistic tendency. They also would cut covenants with foreign nations, against God's Word, and the foreign nations would come back to oppress them, such as what the Israelites are doing here with Assyria. They eventually made a covenant with the Romans, only for the Romans to occupy them and eventually destroy them in due time.

There are many forms of Christian syncretism today. Some Christians are Platonists rather than Christians. Other Christians are into the Prosperity Gospel, which is a sort of syncretism between Americanism and Christianity. We must keep the faith pure.

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Okay, Hosea 7. I want to heal Israel, but "its sins are too great." "Sinful deeds everywhere." They are all "adulterers," always "aflame with lust." They are like an oven that "is kept hot while the baker is kneading the dough." Drinking. You know, lustful behavior. "Burning like an oven." Killing people. "Mingling with godless foreigners." Wow. "Worshipping fallen gods." "Their hair is grey." They are old and weak. Wow. The people of Israel have become like "silly witless doves." "Flying all over the place." But as they fly about, "I throw my net over them and bring them down like a bird from the sky." This is God. He is... Yeah, this is... He seems annoyed at this point. "Let them die for they have rebelled against me?" Doesn't sound very compassionate. I mean, where is the Jesus Christ forgiving sins aspect here? Like, "they sinned against me?" Now they're dead. They sit on their couches and "wail." God seems incredibly mad at this point. They are as useless as "a crooked bow." A crooked bow sounds like a pub in the middle of the West Midlands.

You're right this had some poetry but my question is why is God now a poet? How did that come about? And who exactly was able to transcribe the words of God like this? The prophets I guess but why are there no prophets today?

How can we be absolutely convinced this was indeed God and not just a very creative mind?

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

How can we be absolutely convinced this was indeed God and not just a very creative mind?

Well, I don't think epistemic certainty is the goal, it's actually an idol. By faith, the Scriptures are sufficient for you. God's Word is too contrary to men for men to have come up with it. They hate God's Law, it's too tough and too strict. But then they hate God's Grace, it's too easy and too free.

A creative mind would look something more like what I touched on in one of the later chapters. Idols are very creative, philosophy is creative, poetry is creative, and they all reinforce false religion, with man at the top, God at the bottom.

 

[Tippy]

Well, I don't think epistemic certainty is the goal, it's actually an idol. By faith, the Scriptures are sufficient for you. God's Word is too contrary to men for men to have come up with it. They hate God's Law, it's too tough and too strict. But then they hate God's Grace, it's too easy and too free.

A creative mind would look something more like what I touched on in one of the later chapters. Idols are very creative, philosophy is creative, poetry is creative, and they all reinforce false religion, with man at the top, God at the bottom.

You all all creativity reinforces false religion?

So do you think it's all demonic?

What about creative works with Christian themes/ideas? And in a way aren't creators acting out a kind of grace in their behaviour since usually it takes a kind of sacrifice to create? Or is this more them trying to be mini Gods and putting themselves at the center?

It seems even with Christ centered work (let's say Dostoevsky or CS lewis) there must be a bit of a pull between both the ego drive of recognition and success even if the novels are full of references/analogies to Christ. How can this be reconciled?