Throughout our discussion in class Tuesday, I kept coming back to a single problem. Everyone kept saying that innocent people were punished for David's sin, and they were asking why an innocent nation should ever be held responsible for a leader's sin. I sat there thinking, "Who said these israelites were innocent?". We've all sinned at least once-- probably in the last five minutes to be honest. As it says in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is death, and since we have all sinned, we all deserve it.
Being the awesome sophomore that I am, I hadn't actually read the text before class on Tuesday, but having read it now, Wesley actually makes the same point. On page 3, roman numeral II he says
"The rich, the poor, the high, the low
Have wander'd from his mild command;
The floods of wickedness o'erflow,
And deluge all the guilty land:
People and Priest lie drown'd in sin,
And Tophet yawns to take them in."
He doesn't really make it clear whether he is quoting someone else, or just being really poetic, but regardless he's saying that every one of us is guilty. Every one of us lies "drown'd in sin". So the argument that "innocent people were punished for David's sin" is invalid.
So, what did we learn today? Ben is a horrible sophomore? John Wesley can be either exceptionally poetic or a thief? Reading the course texts is optional? All good answers.
Tune in next week, when I'll actually have time to read the text BEFORE class.
I totally agree with you Ben. We have all sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Another thing to take into account is James 2:10. Paraphrased it says if you break one part of the law you break it all. So now that we know that there are no perfect people and we have all broken the whole law. We come to the part about you reading... I haven't read for tomorrow... Have a good night Ben.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you too Ben! There is the verse Roman 3:23, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Every person is responsible for his own sin. I think one of the reason's God's wrath was unleashed on the Israelites, after David's sin, was because David's sin was the big extra coin that tipped the scale. All of Israel has been committing sins against God, but when the godly leader felt bold enough to defy God, the Lord's anger was aroused. Israel knew what David did was wrong, so it did encourage Israel to continue in the right way. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my feelings on the issue.
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