The first place I would start is to remind everyone that context is the key to correcting every bad doctrine. Supposing I was asked to respond to a video taken by someone teaching that Genesis 2:26-27 and 11:7 refers to a multiple creator with in the Hebrew Scriptures, I would automatically start off with an overview of the other passages which cover creation in the Bible.
Context is Key
Psalms 19:1-6
“The heavens declare the glory of God (el);
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.”
Psalm 33:6-9
“6 By the word of the Lord (ye.ho.vah) the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.“
Psalm 100:3
“ Know that the Lord (ye.ho.vah) is God (e.lo.him).
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.“
Psalm 95:3-5
“3 For the Lord (ye.ho.vah) is the great God (el),
the great King above all gods (e.lo.him).
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.”
My Response to this Fallacy
Not only do these examples show that the Psalmist did not believe creation was the work of multiple creators, but also ascribed this feat to One far supreme to any thing else, but I digress.
Clearly anyone trying to teach the buffoonery that the Bible even hints at the notion that other beings alongside of Yahweh created everything, is not only misinformed, but should be totally ignored.
I would not spend much time trying to correct someone if they continued to hold to this view simply because of the fact that people love to take a little bit of scripture and form a doctrine or belief systems around it.
Why is this?
Because it is easier and more comfortable to adopt a doctrine formed from a limited amount of scriptures that fits nicely into ones boxes to be check off and forgotten, than it is to wrestle with the whole of the scriptures.
The Bible when taken seriously from cover to cover as the sole thing that in its entirety produces doctrine is the great demolisher of bad theology.
For example:
Free will beings tasked and equipped to rule the world by spreading Gods kingdom in his likeness, are reduced to mere robots (puppets) or automatons, who only move when the strings are pulled (albeit by His secret will) because a limited (pardon the pun) scope of scriptures from which the Reformed Doctrine of Total Inability/Depravity is derived. This reformed fallacy holds its own only when confined to the limited scriptural context used in calvinist circles, but when this doctrine is examined by all the scriptures it comes undone. In light of the full context of all the scriptures the only way to tenably maintain a belief in the reformed rendition of Total Depravity is through inconsistency.
Here is an example:
Calvinist conflate Total Depravity with everyone from birth is a sinner from inside their mothers womb.
They use verses such as these to defend this idea.
“They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
Psalm 14:3
“as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'”
Romans 3:10-12
and
Psalm 51:4-6
“Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.”
These verses are used to reinforce their doctrine which they resonate thoroughly throughout the Reformed ecco chamber. From this skewed context we are told to believe that every persons is a sinner from conception and apart from the select few God arbitrarily chooses the rest of humanity is damned to eternal hell fire.
Reformed teachers even go so far as to extrapolate from these text that even babies who pass away due to unfortunate events suffer the pangs of hell eternally for their sins they committed in the womb. This is disgusting and an affront to the Holy God who created all beings to live relationship with Him.
What happens to this nonsense when we remove it from this limited scriptural context and broaden to that of all the scriptures.
For example:
Galatians 4:3-5
“So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
and
Hebrews 4:14-16
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Nonsense Destroyed
Jesus who was born of a woman, born under the law, was tempted in every way, just as we are- yet did not sin! Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, went through the cycles of gestation, was born a human baby and yet He was sinless. This demolishes this wicked calvinistic doctrine at its roots. How could Jesus who was tempted in the same way as every single person on the planet, not be born sinful from conception as interpreted by the Calvinist.
This is where it all comes apart. To save face of this oversight devotees to the Reformed systematic must introduce another insufficient doctrine (that of original sin) to make up for that which is left wanting by the initial mal use of context with Total Depravity. In the end the reformed doctrine of Total Depravity is rendered untenable by the light and truth produced by its proper context belonging that of all the scripture.
Back to the Beginning
In the the same way the limited contextual view of multiple creators taken from a select scriptural context is absolutely demolished by applying a complete contextual framework based in the whole of the scripture. As demonstrated above, when one takes the frame work of an all encompassing contextual approach using the whole Bible for ferreting out doctrine, bad theology rooted in a couple of scriptures but inconsistent with the rest of the text, goes extinct.
Peace and Blessing
Biblical Doctrine Derives From the Biblical Text
The Unseen Realm Course
This is a response I wrote to a question that was asked durning my semester of The Unseen Realm 101 Course. I highly recommend this online course for anyone who is interested in the topics that are covered here on Critical Thinking Aloud. To see a course overview and a schedule for when the classes start click here
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