Engaging God's Problem -- Disagreements with Chapter Four

At this point, Bart Ehrman's book God's Problem is dealing with the issue of suffering being the consequence of sin. It is also where I get a little disappointed. The Disagreements are as follows:

1. Bart does not seem to have proper understanding of God's discipline. In particular he seems to think God's discipline is harsh but then again from God's perspective would it be?

2. I was also disappointed to find Bart engaging in a particular brand of politics -- liberal. He bashes capitalism (although he enjoys its benefits) and takes a pot shot at Iraq -- "masses of people dying in Iraq". When did that happen?

3. He state the Bible is a fully human book -- can't agree for a number of reasons, chief among them the historical nature of the Bible as it record God interaction with man.

4. In the debate he seems to skip over both Babel and the Flood parts that indicate the evilness of humanity and their lack of obedience.

5. While I have problems with God ordering the genocide of the Canaanites, I also realize these were not nice people and that their children would have probably grew up to be like them. I think God is taking a long term view. Had the Israelites obeyed God they would have avoided all the long term wars and suffering that followed that amount to greater suffering than simple genocide. Hard but true. Obedience would have avoided this suffering.

6. When a prophecy is fulfilled it does not mean divine will absolute it means the understanding of the prophecy is fulfilled. There is an inconsistency to Bart's reasoning. on the one hand he says that God does not possess a crystal ball with the prophets and yet that is how he treats it when talking about suffering. Can't have it both ways.

7. One thing came through to me loud and clear at this time -- one tone of the book is a cultural arrogance -- that is that the ancient culture of the Bible is inferior to ours. You cannot judge a different culture by standards we have -- their different and who are we to say our culture should judge others. Bart judging slavery of the ancient world is like this -- in that time slavery is just a social status. It also certainly does not say that the forced labor of Israels enemies was like the Nazi death camps or something. He does this again when he talks about Rome. Bart Ehrman sure puts himself up as the person who has the authority to judge ancient cultures and find them wanting -- I wonder what his basis for comparison is?

8. The David thing gets me too. David does get off -- by the law he should have been killed but the price for David is high -- he looses four sons and one of his daughters is raped. In addition he spends a good amount of time running from a son who is trying to kill him and who sleeps with his ten concubines. David suffers a lot for his one sin -- did he really get off? The one thing that does bother me though is the baby's death but David indicates an afterlife so is the child really bad off. Then that reasoning opens up a whole can of worms doesn't it.

9. More higher criticism -- this time that Luke wrote after the fact about the destruction of Jerusalem - -this is pure conjecture, but then again if Jesus predicts the the fall of Jerusalem before the fact and Luke simply records it before the fact then that would be one more proof Jesus is what He said and Christianity said he was. Bart can't have that.

10. Bart gives credence to freewill defence but does not explore it fully. He always pulls up short of where I would in this chapter.

Next: Agreements with Chapter Five.