{"id":2108,"date":"2012-09-07T11:50:52","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T15:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldsandals.net\/?p=2108"},"modified":"2012-09-10T08:01:49","modified_gmt":"2012-09-10T12:01:49","slug":"hosea-9-anything-but-fanciful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oldsandals.net\/?p=2108","title":{"rendered":"(Hosea 9) Anything but fanciful"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, and separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination like the thing they loved….My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him. \u00a0And they shall be wanderers among the nations.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many people have the impression that the Bible is just a collection of fanciful stories.\u00a0 Like\u00a0Aesop’s fables, there are many good, moral lessons that can be learned from them, but noone should suppose\u00a0the stories actually happened.<\/p>\n

Such an impression of the Bible, of course, is false.\u00a0Honestly read and properly understood, the stories are anything but fanciful.\u00a0 The whole of Scripture deals with the nitty-gritty of life.\u00a0 The good, bad and the ugly.\u00a0 Sin and death.\u00a0 A\u00a0crucifixion.\u00a0 What\u00a0subjects could be less fanciful?<\/p>\n

And yet, the Scripture is not only (or even in the main) a lament about mankind’s failures.\u00a0 It is really the story of God’s success, and our hope of a new life—now and forever—free from sin, death and utter meaninglessness.<\/p>\n

The empty tomb is not a fanciful story either, but a divine reality.\u00a0 In fact, like the whole of Scripture itself, it has to be one or the other.\u00a0\u00a0It’s either true or “truth” doesn’t matter.\u00a0Either the tomb is empty—or all of life is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, and separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination like the thing they loved….My God will cast them away, because they did not obey Him. … <\/p>\n

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