Dec. 7, 2024

Old Testament: Morality Tale?

Old Testament: Morality Tale?

A Look at how some read and preach the Old Testament like it’s a morality tale?

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A Look at how some read and preach the Old Testament like it’s a morality tale?

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good afternoon, good

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early evening everyone. It is Friday, December sixth, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently five point thirty seven pm Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live from the Theology

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Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, if

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you listen to a lot of sermons, I will argue

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that over and over again. When it comes to historical

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narratives in the Bible, I say, you find us mainly

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and well, I don't say mainly, you find it a

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lot in the Old Testament. Any of the historical narratives

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in the Old Testament, I think people I think they

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do the same thing with some of the Gospels and

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the Book of Acts. But wherever you have something written

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as a narrative in any way, shape or form, I

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say a time and time again, I think this is

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fairly common. I don't think anyone could argue with me

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too much. I think pastors have a tendency to take

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parts of the Old Testament, parts of the New Testament,

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anything that's more like in a narrative format, and they

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will preach it and they will teach it as if

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it's a morality tell, a morality tell. And I'm going

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to challenge that approach to preaching and to Bible interpretation,

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because I don't believe the Bible was written to serve

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as a morality tale. I think when we approach that,

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we handle the text that way, approach it that way,

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read it that way, I think we do great damage

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to actually a true understanding of scripture. That's going to

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be my hypotheses. The Bible should not be read as

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a morality tale. It should not be preached as a

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morality tell. I will argue that most kids who grow

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up in church and go to Sunday school, Sunday school class,

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after Sunday school class, after Sunday school class, are Bible

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stories taught as morality tales, which then absolutely destroys those

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kids' ability to ever truly understand the Bible. I will

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say that in most cases, the children's ministries and most

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churches are actually hurtful and damaging the children's ability to

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understand the scriptures as they get older. I think if

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you take most kids who are raised in the church

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and ask them about Christianity and ask them about the Bible.

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They will start talking about the Bible as a morality tale.

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They'll start talking about Christianity as basically just moralism, as

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just a system of morality. Do this, don't do this,

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do this, don't do this, This is bad, this is good,

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don't do this, don't say that. And it's all about

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does and don't. It's morality, morality, morality, and every Bible

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story is just a morality tell. And I think that

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that's actually destructive. I think that that's actually counterproductive to

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having people form the ability or to develop the ability

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to actually read and study the Bible. Now, I know

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immediately I'm gonna get some pushback on this, but I

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think it's a problem now for those who don't know

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it and know a good definition of what a morality

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tell is. Let me explain. A morality tell is a

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story that conveys a moral message or lesson, often by

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illustrating the consequences of good and bad behavior. Morality tales

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are characterized by simple plots and relatable characters. Morality tells

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use these to make complex ideas accessible and memorable. Typically,

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within a morality tell, not only do you have simple

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plots and relatable characters, you have a protagonist with a

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moral compass. The protagonist is either seeking redemption or wants

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to silence their inner conscience. Number three, you have a

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focus on the consequences of choices. The story focuses on

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the choices to act on behalf of ourselves or others,

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and the consequences of that choice. Now, I will think

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that as soon as you start hearing that definition, many

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of you are going to be like, well, the Bible

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is one big morality tell because we have these stories

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that have simple plots, relatable characters. Right, they take maybe

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these big philological ideas, but they make them more accessible

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and rememorable. I mean pastors do that all the time.

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There's some philological point or point they want to make

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and that they're teaching from the New Testament. They'll go

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to the Old Testament. Take one of the stories to

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then make the story quote unquote accessible or memorable. Take

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to take the philological idea and make it accessible and

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memorable by using an Old Testament story. So many would

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be like, well, this describes the Bible. It has a

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protagonist with a moral compass. See, people will go to

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the Bible. Oh, here's our protagonists, here's the good guy

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in the story. It's David, it's this man, it's this man,

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it's Abraham, it's Moses. Right, And so then we teach

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this morality tell using this character. The story focus. The

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stories focus on the consequences of the choices. The story

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focuses on the choices to act on behalf of ourselves

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or others, and the consequences of that choice. So they're like, hey,

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this person had this choice to make. Here's the choice

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they made. And so you can see that, at least

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to one level. You could say, well, the Bible is

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a morality tell, But I think that's us reading. We've

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been so brought up on morality details that we just

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read the Bible in that way, And I don't know

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if that's the right way to read the stories. Morality

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tells were commonly used in early forms of information dissemination

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to teach values in ethics. They have remained a strong

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influence in literature, inspiring modern works. Yeah, it has been

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a major influence on literature, and I will argue it's

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been a major influence within christiendom. Sunday school teachers just

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want to turn Sunday school into a morality tale. Moralism moralism,

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and I don't know if that's the correct way to

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understand the Bible. Now we have been talking about now

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for a number of hours. First Samuel chapter twenty six.

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Right we started reviewing a sermon. We didn't make it

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all the way through it. And remember this pastor took

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First Samuel twenty six, which is a story of Saul

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hunting down David. He wants to destroy David. He wants

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to kill David. He has about three thousand men with

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him and they find a place to camp, right, they

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need a place to camp, so they're camping out. David

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finds out that Saul is coming into the wilderness after him.

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He sends some spies. They figure out, oh, that's where

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Saul is camping out. David takes someone. They go into

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the camp. All the men are asleep. David just walks

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into the camp. They're all sleeping, three thousand men. Saul's

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a commander is there, Saul is there. David walks in

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and he finds Saul sleeping with the spear right there

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next to his head. And David has a choice. The

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person with David is like, hey, just take that spear,

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kill Saul. And this is over all of this dramas over.

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This man's been hunting you, trying to kill you. You

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could end it. You could solve all your problems right now.

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And David doesn't do it. And so the sermon that

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we heard turned this into a hypothetical. Hey, what would

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you do if you're facing a situation where you could

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end all of your problems but you would have to

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sin to do so. And it turns it basically into

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a morality tale. David is the good guy. David didn't

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do it. We need to be like David, And it

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was basically preached that way. Well, there were all kinds

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of problems with the message, and we've taken them apart.

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But one of the issues is when I read it,

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I think it's a morality tale. I think it's a

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morality tale. So I wanted to see if I was correct.

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And so what I did as I took the sermon,

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found the text file of the sermon, and I gave

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it to AI, and I asked AI to examine the

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sermon and tell me if this is an example of

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taking an old testament, a historical narrative and turning it

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into a morality tale. This is what AI said, Yes,

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the sermon in the attached file is an example of

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taking an Old Testament historical narrative and turning it into

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a morality tell. While this approach may be engaging and

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may provide practical application, it comes with a significant textual, logical,

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and philological problem or problems plural. So AI is like, yeah,

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a lot of this. This may be engaging, but guess

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what it's gonna It's gonna cause problems logically, philologically, it's

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gonna cause problems. What are the problems? Uh uh? Textual problems, Textual, logical,

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and thiological problems. When you approach the text as a

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morality tell, you create these problems. But most people in

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the church has no idea that these problems are occurring

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because they were especially if they were raised in the church.

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They just think the Bible's one morality, big morality tell Anyway,

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So I said, Okay, we need to criticize this, we

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need to analyze this, we need to see how this

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is a problem. So let's start with the text textual problems. Right,

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So we have first Samuel twenty six. We have this

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story of Saul trying to kill David. Saul finds a

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place to camp David goes in, finds Saul sleeping there.

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He could take the spear, he could kill him. God

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is the one who put them all to sleep, which

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raises all kinds of questions. And then David doesn't do so,

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and he rides off and he's the hero because he

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didn't do this. Okay, great, Now what can we learn

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from it? We turn it into a morality tale. Well,

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if we do this from a textual perspective, the first

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thing we tend to do is we tend to ignore

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the historical context. So when we go to these stories

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and turn them into morality tales, we have a tendency

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to ignore the historical context. Now, some pastors will mention

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the historical context, but ultimately they ignore it to create

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their morality tell You see, the Old Testament historical narratives

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like First Samuel twenty six are rooted in specific cultural,

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covenantal and redemptive context. So you turn it into a

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morality tale, you basically then ignore the cultural as how

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it relates to the covenant or covenants and its redemptive context.

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You see, when you turn the narrative into a general

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moral lesson, the sermon risks stripping the story of its

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historical and philological uniqueness. You destroy what the text is

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actually about. For example, David's refusal to harm Saul is

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tied to Saul's unique role as God's anointed king in Israel.

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There's a specific reason David doesn't do so. There's a

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very specific reason. This is God's anointed. Well, does the

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Old Testament have something that could possibly happen to David

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if he harms God's anointed? If he kills God's anointed?

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Could there have been consequences that David could face. We

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turn it into oh, Dave, it was just such a

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great guy. Was he a great guy? Or is he

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thought hmm? If I kill the Lord's anointed? What does

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that mean for me my future? Could I am I

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going to be king? I mean, nobody wants to talk

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about that, because see, that takes the the motive of

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David and turns it into maybe more questionable. See if

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we apply this directly to modern moral dilemmas fails to

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consider the specificity of the situation. See we forget, Well

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wait a minute, what so is David just like well,

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all authority is appointed by God, Therefore I can't do anything?

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Or is he thinking hmm? The Bible may seem to

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make it very clear if I touch the Lord's anointed

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or if I kill the Lord's anointed, there could be problems.

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It is his. We liked it. We love to make

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Bible characters very one dimensional good guy, bad guy, good

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good motives, bad motives, and instead of seeing them as

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complex human beings with all kinds of different motivations, so

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we ignore the historical context. Another thing we do is

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we kind of start cherry picking details. Do we not see?

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Morality tells focus on select details of the story while

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ignoring or minimizing others. For example, the sermon that we

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reviewed emphasizes David's restraint and sparing Saul, but does not

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account for David's failures in First Samuel twenty seven, which

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immediately follow and complicate the narrative. And First Samuel twenty seven,

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David's out there killing people. Oh, he would not kill Saul,

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but he's got no problem killing these other people. Hm,

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why see see a morality tail is not going to

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try to figure out that? Why? Well, we'll just yeah, no.

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When we preach for Samuel twenty seven, we're not now

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David's being bad. See now be like David in twenty six,

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but don't be like David in twenty seven. But wait

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a minute, why is David so so it seems he

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has no problem killing these people in twenty seven, but

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he can't kill Saul. That seems to indicate maybe there's

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something to his motivation here. I'm not saying there is.

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I'm not saying there isn't. I'm saying that. Then a

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good sermon would be like, so, why do we think

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do we have any anything in the Bible that David

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may have been aware of that made him go, I

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can't kill Saul? And it would have been for more

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maybe selfish reasons than godly reasons, because he has no

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problem killing people in twenty seven. Yes. No, Now see

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when we do this, right, when we cherry pick details,

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this selective focus distorts the fuller picture of David's character,

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in God's work, in his life, you begin to actually,

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you begin to just destroy the actual picture that's being painted.

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So when we turn the Bible into a moralitytail, we

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end up with textual problems. And the first thing we

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do is we ignore the historical context. And the second thing,

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we cherry pick details, which actually destroys what the text

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is actually say. Another thing I think we do when

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we turn it into our morality detail is I think

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we neglect the narrative's purpose. Now I think this is

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I think this is a key hermeneutical issue. Before you

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ever debate with anyone about some verses in the Bible,

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whenever you start, you know someone wants to argue and

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they want to quote some scripture. I think what you

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should do is just say time out before we argue

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about the scripture, Before we even argue about how to

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interpret this scripture, should we not ask what is the

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purpose of this particular chapter in which this scripture is found.

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What is the particular purpose? What is this chapter actually

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trying to say? Because so many times we ignore the

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actual purpose of the narrative and we go to the

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text to make it say we use it for our

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own purpose. We can't bring our purpose to the text.

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The text had a purpose, what is it? That's what

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we have to discover. See Biblical narratives. I know this

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is going to come as a shock to all of

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the Sunday school teachers. Okay, but Biblical narratives are not

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primarily moral instruction. I know that goes against everything. Look,

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I know that look, even as a preacher when I

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was being taught to preach, I mean, that's how I

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kind of under you go. You got to outline the story,

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and you need three or four principles. And these principles

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are going to be like, do this, don't do this,

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do this, don't do this, do this. Everything is turned

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into moral instruction. Be better, don't do this, stop doing this.

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But the reality, the biblical narratives are actually philological accounts

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meant to reveal God's character, his covenant purpose, and his

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redemptive work. See when you moralize the text, what happens

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The preacher is actually obscuring the narrative's true philological intent.

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Nobody knows the actual theological intent. No one knows the

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actual intent of the passage because we've turned it into

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a morality tale. First Samuel twenty six is not about

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how believers should resist sin under pressure, but it is

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about God's sovereignty and preserving David as his chosen king.

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God has chosen David, God has made covenant promise, the

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dividic covenant. There's all these things surrounding David that that

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or it's going to come to play. Why we'd have

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to look at I'd have to go put it all

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in its proper historical or chronological order. But the point

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is we know ultimately God has chosen David, and from David,

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He's going to establish a dividic covenant from the line

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of David comes Christ. There's a specific purpose and reason.

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You can't just take David out and just try to

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make David like us. David is in a completely unique

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and special situation, just like the same thing with Israel

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over and over and over again, and a covenant relationship

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a unique situation. So when we turn it into our

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morality tail, we end up with textual problems. We end

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up ignoring the historical context, We actually cherry pick details,

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and we neglect the narrative's purpose. Then we run into

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logical problems. What happens is we oversimplify complex characters. We

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take complex character characters and we make them one dimensional.

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We oversimplify them. See, when you turn the narrative into

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a morality tale, you reduce the complexity of these individuals

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and you just make them, you know, kind of into

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a just kind of into a one dimensional David is righteous,

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David is a good guy. Now there will be some

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text you'll say, David is a bad guy. But it's

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not that simple, is it. Saul is the bad guy,

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David is the good guy. That's just we have to

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establish who's the good guy, who's the bad guy. So

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this is an oversimplification of what this happen. What happens

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we begin to ignore the nuance of their humanity and

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their spiritual struggles. No, we can These are not one

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dimensional human beings. I know. We may have a little

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picture of them hanging up in the Sunday school classroom

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that we put up on a board, and we just

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reduce them to a little you know, flannel graphe a

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one dimensional person. These are complex human beings with good, bad,

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all kinds of motivations. David is shown as a model

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of moral restraint and sparing Saul, yet his despair and

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moral felings in First Samuel twenty seven are not addressed,

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creating an inconsistent portrait. Hey, David maybe looking like a

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great guy in First Samuel twenty six, but in twenty

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seven man, he's running for his life. He's scared, he

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doesn't trust God, and he kills people and he steals property.

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Not such a good guy. Wa Wait, how do you

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reconcile that. Now you could take that and go hmm.

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Then I wonder what was it? Why would he not

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kill Saul? Then I'm just asking a hypothetical question. See

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if I go to twenty seven, if he's so quick

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to kill these people, why wouldn't he kill that person? Well,

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he wouldn't kill that person, he says, because he's the anointed.

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Well what was it about Saul being the anointed that

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kept David scared to kill? He had no problem killing

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other people, So what was it? There's something about the

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context here, There's something about the history here, there's something

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about the theology here that would help us better understand

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first Samuel twenty six. But in the sermon we reviewed,

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he didn't bother to go into any of that because

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it was a morality tale. So we end up with

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a logical problems because we oversimplify and we take these

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complex characters when we make them one dimensional. Another thing

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is we create false dichotomies. See the sermon that we

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listen to presents a binary choice either commit one sin

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and suffering, or remain faithful and endoor suffering. However, real

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life moral dilemmas are often far more complex. Involving mixed motives,

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unintended consequences, and limited options. Things are not always so simple.

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We like to make the story, you know, very like

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this false dichotomy, very simple, very binary, very it's either

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this way or that way. And things are never that simple.

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It's always much more convoluted, messy and complicated. And I

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think we should the convoluted, the complex, and the messy

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in the Bible because then we are much more prepared

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to deal with the complicated, convoluted and messy in life.

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Don't reduce the Bible and make it into a one

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dimensional morality tale. Get into it where it's ugly and

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dirty and messy and confusing and confounding and frustrating and

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discouraging and depressing, and embrace all that it's there, because

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that's how life is. Ladies and gentlemen. But we've got

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to have good guys and bad guys. We'd have to.

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We have to reduce everything to this the most simple form. Now, listeners,

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then what will happen to listeners when they hear us

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create these false diconomies. They begin to feel guilt or

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confusion when their own moral struggle struggles do not fit

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neatly into such dichotomies. So the listener hears us tell

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these morality tales, but then they get into life and

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it's not always so simple. It's much more complicated and

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confusing and convoluted, and so they feel guilt and shame

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and like, why can't it just be this simple? Because nothing,

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ever is another logical problem. So when we come to

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the logical problems, we've oversimplified these characters, we create false dichotomies,

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and then we begin to apply ancient situations to modern context,

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which really becomes majorly problematic. See the preacher assumes that

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David's historical situation is and now is basically like ours

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and our modern ethical dilemmas. It says, it's basically like, hey,

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here's David's situation. It's just like our own modern ethical dilemmas.

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It's just the same. Well, this approach risks creating artificial

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parallels that do not hold up under scrutiny. David's refusal

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to kill Saul reflects a unique covenant relationship between God,

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David and Saul, which cannot be directly mapped onto modern

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scenarios like workplace conflicts or personal temptations. It's not the same.

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But we go to these ancient problems, these ancient situations,

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and we try to apply them to modern context. It

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may sound good in preaching. Everyone may write down the points,

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but it's not. It doesn't fit always. So there's the

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textual problems, there's the logical problems. What about the philological problems? Well,

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when we turn the Bible into a morality tale, is

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there not a danger of misrepresenting the Gospel? You see

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by focusing in First Samuel twenty six. If we focus

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on David as a moral example, the sermon risks sidelighting

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the Gospel's emphasis on grace and Christ's ultimate fulfillment of righteousness.

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The narrative is used primarily to teach what we should do,

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rather than pointing to what God has done. See, hey,

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it turns into you should do this, and you should

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do this, not turn into well, God has done these

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things for us because we fel to do them. No, no, no,

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it always turns into what we should do. Works works, works, works,

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works works. The sermon frames david action as a model

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for resisting temptation, but the Gospel calls us to look

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to Christ, the only one who perfectly resisted temptation and

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fulfilled the law on our behalf. See, we're like, hey, hey,

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you sometimes you're gonna find the spear and you're gonna

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want to use it. You're gonna want to kill this

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or stab this or no, no, no, don't do that.

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Be like David. David didn't do it well, and somehow

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that that's supposed to I guess, fix my sinful nature.

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Just remember David, who didn't take the spear and kill Saul.

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He's killing people in the very next chapter. So do

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you really want to say, David figure out how to

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overcome temptation. No, he kills a woman's husband later on.

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So just stop that. We always think, oh, this story

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shows us how to overcome temptation, does it? Because that

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character falls fifteen other different ways. Maybe what it demonstrates

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is that ultimately we have to look to Christ. So

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it could misrepresent the Gospel. It could create a kind

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of a fight between moralism versus grace. See the Sermon

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on First Samuel twenty six. It emphasized human effort moral

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decision making, which can lead to moralism. It can teach

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that human obedience is the key to our right relationship

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with God. This undermines the theilological truth that salvation and

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sanctification are works of God's grace. I'm right with God

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because of what Christ did, not because of what I

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do or don't do. So then what happens Listeners may

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feel burdened by unrealistic expectations of moral perfection, neglecting the

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role of repentance, grace, and the work of Christ. That's

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a problem. Another problem here. Another philological problem is in

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that sermon. It could have been possibly even misusing the

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concept of typology, which I'm not even a fan of,

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because the sermon appears to make David a typological or

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typological figure of Christ, but only selectively and inconsistently. While

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it draws some connections between David and Jesus, it fails

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to to acknowledge David's flaws, which underscores the need for

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a perfect and sinless savior. David is portrayed as a

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christ like figure in resisting sin, but he subsequently fails

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in First Samuel twenty seven, which revealed that he is

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not the ultimate model of righteousness. Only Christ is. David

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is a man who from his line comes Christ, but

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he is not Christ. He is not perfect, he is

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not righteous, He is a sinful man who fails, and

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that's why we need the one who comes in his line,

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which is Christ, but David himself. We want to draw

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these pictures, but we only want to selectively draw the picture.

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Another problem is that is this approach. When you turn

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into a morality tale, you overemphasize human responsibility. The sermon

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highlights David's ability to choose righteous righteousness, potentially downplaying the

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role of God's sovereignty and preserving Biblical narratives often emphasize

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God's control over events even when human decisions are involved.

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See we want to turn it into David chose David

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could do the right thing, so you can do the

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right thing, which the then almost then we get into well,

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can then we do the right thing all the time,

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so then we don't really need Christ? Can we be perfect?

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All kinds of problems? The text wasn't so much about Again,

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maybe David's motives weren't as pure as we want them

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to be. If you look at the text, the deep

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sleep that falls on Saul's camp, all three thousand of them,

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that's an act of divine intervention and understands it underscores

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God's protection of David. The divine element is overshadowed by

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the sermon's focus on David's moral restraint. We forget God

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and we look at what David did. That's what happens

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in morality tell It becomes a story about people and

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not a story about God. So what happens if you

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approach the Bible as a morality tell Well, it can

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lead to unrealistic, unrealistic expectations. It presents David as an

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idolized are idealized, maybe not idolized, idealized. He becomes the

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perfect ideal He becomes the perfect example of a moral model.

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So you set unrealistic expectations for everyone in the church, who,

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just like David, are flawed and prone to sin. This

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leads to feelings of guilt, failure, and inadequacy. Hey, why

460
00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:33.400
can't you be like David? Why can't you be like

461
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:38.200
this person? Wait? Just remember they are just like those people.

462
00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:41.519
They're flawed, but you don't let them. You only use

463
00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:44.440
the flaws certain times, but other times you just so

464
00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:48.000
build these people up into well what the people in

465
00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:51.000
the pew never are going to be. You even hear

466
00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:55.119
sometimes Christian songs and be like David, be like this,

467
00:30:55.319 --> 00:30:59.319
be like this, No, let's not be like them, because

468
00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:11.119
they're just as flawed as us. So that sermon turned

469
00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:13.519
it into a morality tale, and it asked the question,

470
00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:18.000
what if you could commit one sin to end all suffering? Well,

471
00:31:18.039 --> 00:31:20.559
guess what that sermon did. It oversimplified the reality of

472
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:25.200
ongoing sin and the struggle to trust god fully. David

473
00:31:25.279 --> 00:31:27.880
was committing sin before first Samuel twenty six, who was

474
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:31.480
committing sin after first Samuel twenty six? But we turned

475
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:36.039
it into hey, hey, oh if just focus on one

476
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:39.119
thing and don't do that one thing, and it just well, oh,

477
00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.720
so you know, if I can make all my problems

478
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:44.359
of going away by not by committing this sin, Well

479
00:31:46.160 --> 00:31:52.319
the whole question becomes really becomes ridiculous, because why, well,

480
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:57.000
we're already committing sin. So the sermon just ignored that

481
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:07.839
entire concept. And when you focus on moral behavior, you

482
00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:10.799
can foster a works based mentality where righteousness is seen

483
00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:14.119
as primarily dependent on human effort rather than on the

484
00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:18.200
imputed righteousness that comes from Christ. So this what you

485
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:30.200
almost promote a form of legalism. We need to stop

486
00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:33.680
with the morality tell the moralism, and we need to

487
00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:36.200
get back to approaching the scripture in a more fair

488
00:32:36.319 --> 00:32:42.039
and honest way, not ignoring what's going on. When you

489
00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:45.240
turn the Old Testament historical narratives into a morality tell,

490
00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:49.359
it creates significant textual, logical, and philological problems. It risks

491
00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:52.880
misrepresenting the purpose of the text, oversimplifying the complex realities,

492
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:57.759
and promoting a works based approach to faith. If you

493
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:00.799
wanted to take First Samuel twenty six instead of turning

494
00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:03.960
into a morality tale, we could focus on God's sovereignty

495
00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:07.160
and preserving David. Now, it's going to raise some philosophical questions,

496
00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:10.319
but clearly the text emphasizes that we could show the

497
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:14.200
contrast between David's flaws and Christ's perfection. Even in First

498
00:33:14.200 --> 00:33:16.480
Samuel twenty six, David looks like a great guy. But

499
00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:19.480
we want to just briefly mention chapter twenty seven, where

500
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:24.039
you know, yeah, he's flawed. It could demonstrate that all

501
00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:28.319
of us, including David, need grace because we live a

502
00:33:28.440 --> 00:33:33.119
life filled with human weakness, frailty, sin and doubt and

503
00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:38.039
all the other things that happens to us. Now, if

504
00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:41.160
you approach it more this way, you're being more realistic.

505
00:33:41.160 --> 00:33:44.599
You're being realistic about who David was you're being realistic

506
00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:48.759
about the complexities in the text. You don't just reduce

507
00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:51.880
it to this one dimensional Be good guys, don't be

508
00:33:52.039 --> 00:34:00.640
bad guys preaching loves the morality tale. Hey, are you

509
00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.359
being like this? You should feel really bad. Stop doing

510
00:34:04.359 --> 00:34:06.480
it now, be good. Now, come down to the altar,

511
00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:10.239
and let's see how many people we can get down

512
00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.440
to the altar, because then that demonstrates the success of

513
00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:16.519
my sermon. Or even if you don't do an alter call,

514
00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:21.719
still becomes very pragmatic, very practical. It's not dealing with

515
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:29.719
the complexities of it at all. Now, honestly, in your

516
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:34.079
Christian life, how many times have you heard the Bible

517
00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:38.199
handled as a morality tale? How many times have you

518
00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:47.199
been guilty of reading it as a morality tale? And

519
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:50.880
what do you think has been the negative consequences and

520
00:34:51.000 --> 00:35:06.280
your spiritual life when it comes to truly understanding the text. Now,

521
00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:08.920
am I saying there aren't any moral lessons. I'm not

522
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:13.280
saying there's not moral lessons, but the moral lessons must

523
00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:18.199
be understood in light of the fuller context, the fuller narrative.

524
00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:22.119
The narratives don't just stop like enscene boom. They lived

525
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:26.960
happily ever after, No, you may be ending that scene,

526
00:35:27.079 --> 00:35:29.960
but you can't let people walk away thinking that that's

527
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:32.519
the definition of who that person was. There's more to

528
00:35:32.679 --> 00:35:35.960
that person. There's more to David than oh, he just

529
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:38.960
wouldn't kill Saul. There. You have to at least understand

530
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:40.920
that action and a lot of what he does in

531
00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:43.599
the very next chapter. Why is he killing these people

532
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:48.599
but he wouldn't kill him? Why now see that? Now?

533
00:35:48.800 --> 00:35:51.559
Instead of turning it into a morality, tell, now we've

534
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:53.320
got to answer this deeper question to see if we

535
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:54.840
can figure it out. I'm not saying we have a

536
00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:57.920
good answer, but maybe there's a reason. Wait wait, wait,

537
00:35:58.119 --> 00:36:00.960
why would God put everyone to sleep here? But he

538
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:03.719
doesn't He didn't intervene here. Now we got deeper quest.

539
00:36:03.800 --> 00:36:06.039
If we turn it into a morality, tell, we don't

540
00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:07.840
care about any of those things. We don't care about

541
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.239
the complexity, we don't care about the purpose, we don't

542
00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:13.119
care about the text. We just need good guy, bad guy,

543
00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:16.199
good actions, bad actions. Don't do this, do this, don't

544
00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:18.760
do this, do this, don't do this, do this. Now

545
00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:26.199
that's good preaching. I think it just completely destroys the

546
00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:30.239
text textually. I think it creates logical problems. And I

547
00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:36.559
could think it creates the logical problems. I'm not saying

548
00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:41.280
that there's not moral lessons, okay, and I'm gonna get

549
00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:46.679
but I teach moral lessons to the kids, okay, but

550
00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:51.159
are you doing so at the expense of the text.

551
00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:55.440
Are you giving them really the wrong idea about these people?

552
00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:00.960
Sometimes it's good if you each kids to ask the

553
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:03.480
kids what do you think about Christianity? What do you

554
00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:07.199
think Christianity is? Explain to me what Christianity is, and

555
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:12.280
if it's just moralism, moralism, moralism, moralism, moralism, moralism, be good,

556
00:37:12.519 --> 00:37:15.519
don't be bad, be good, don't be bad. Then you

557
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:17.599
may want to stop and go uh oh, maybe we've

558
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:20.840
messed up. And then you can have the entire youth

559
00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:25.159
department from teenager to the smaller kids, have a meeting

560
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:27.079
and say I think we may have a problem. Now

561
00:37:27.119 --> 00:37:31.400
they'll probably won't listen to you. But because I think

562
00:37:31.480 --> 00:37:33.840
in some cases, parents just want their kids to go

563
00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:35.639
to Sunday school so they learn to be good boys

564
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:39.920
and good girls to make their lives easier. Some parents

565
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:41.760
just want their kids to be involved in youth group

566
00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.639
so they'll learn to be good, and they won't smoke,

567
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:46.159
they won't smoke dope, and they won't listen to rock

568
00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:49.320
and roll, and they won't be caught, you know, at

569
00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:53.079
midnight with their girlfriend. They just want them to be good.

570
00:37:53.199 --> 00:38:03.519
They just want them to be good. We just want morality, morality, morality.

571
00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:10.000
All right, Thanks for listening. We'll talk about it more,

572
00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:12.880
probably at some point, but I wanted to at least look,

573
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:15.480
if you did not listen to part one, part two

574
00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:18.199
of the Spear, Part one, Part two, that's the sermon

575
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.199
that that's why we're still addressing for Samuel twenty six.

576
00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:23.559
I just always assume people have listened to everything before.

577
00:38:23.599 --> 00:38:25.480
If you haven't been a part of this, go listen

578
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:28.199
to the Spear, Part one, Part two. Then you'll realize

579
00:38:28.199 --> 00:38:30.840
everything we've been discussing. All right, That's why I'm not

580
00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.480
sitting there going back reading everything in first Samuel twenty six.

581
00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:36.400
But first Samuel twenty six we reviewed a sermon on that,

582
00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:39.039
and that's where all of this has been a rising from.

583
00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:41.280
All right, thanks for listening, everyone, Have a good evening.

584
00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:41.960
God bless