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7 Responses to “Sermon Comments”

  1. Jo Crawshaw Says:
    October 26th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    Thanks Phil for being brave enough to preach sermons like that!

  2. Jen Tomkinson Says:
    October 26th, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    On the subject of the total destruction of the people of Jericho… I agree, (as Phil says in the extra sermon notes) that God is the ultimate, perfect judge and therefore can make that call- and so the slaughter of the women in the city along with the soldiers seems justified (!), BUT how can children be anything other than innocent? A child cannot be sinful, surely?! (Considering this as I write, perhaps God felt that however many thousands of orphaned children would be practically impossible to deal with. Seems harsh though, eh?

  3. matthew johnson Says:
    October 26th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    at least all the children will have gone to heaven where there lives will be a million times better. but yes, still seems harsh though however you look at it. but its not like God didn’t give the people a chance to save themselves. as Phil said, he left it till things got REALLY bad.

  4. Jo Crawshaw Says:
    October 27th, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    I agree with Matt. We don’t have the benefit of knowing how God dealt with these people and children after they had died. We have to trust Him for that, knowing that he loved them and judged them justly. As far as I understand God judges people according to what they know of Him.

  5. Jenny H Says:
    October 27th, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    Excellent idea to have a discussion forum on these kind of things. I was chatting to someone only this evening who thought it was a great idea, particularly as it allows negative as well as positive feedback.

    On the subject of children, one thing that’s been bugging me since I read Jen’s comment is why do we think children are innocent? I’m not sure we think that they never do anything wrong (otherwise parents wouldn’t have to tell them to ’stop doing that’). I think we think of them as innocent because they are too young to know any better; they’re not old enough to understand right and wrong, and so can’t be blamed/punished for their behaviour in the same way as an adult. Of course, the question of when people do become old enough to be punished is a hard one, and even with adults things like mitigating circumstances and mental illness are often taken into account when a sentence is passed. So even if the children did do things that were wrong, the death penalty does seem harsh….

    But maybe that’s why we are “casual about sin” – mitigating circumstances seem to make a difference because once we see things from the perpetrators perspective we can empathise with them, and think maybe I would have done the same in that situation. On the one hand that seems like a good thing, as we are to love others, even those who don’t love us. On the other hand, how do we manage to not be “casual about sin” if we are so understanding of why people (including ourselves) do it? (sorry, that turned into a right rambly train of thought!)

  6. drew armitage Says:
    November 7th, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Many thanks for setting up this response system,Phil. Took me ages to sort out an easy password,though! I do feel that,contrary to some opinions, the Old Testament is a like a light that amplifies New Testament Teaching. “Holy War” destroying everything in one’s path including innocent infant lives is,however, not Jesus’ way and I think God was determined to display how brutal He could be to disobedient peoples.(ie using those people He had chosen especially to try to achieve His aims and then with Ai,one of his chosen slipped up big time! Thinking of Jen’s excellent portrayal of Robin Hood in our Pantomime, King Richard’s Crusades are the nearest example of Christian Holy War that happened in post old Testament time for which I think there has been a recent formal Church apology to Muslims!

  7. Tim Holt Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    We heard about a very human Jesus this Sunday, one who underwent spiritual development, acquiring through the testing in the wilderness the strength that he would later need as his mission unfolded. I suppose I already realised that at one point in his life Jesus couldn’t walk or talk, and that he acquired these skills as he grew up (just like anyone else), but the idea that at one point in his life Jesus lacked spiritual resources and that he did things to acquire them is newer to me.

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