WHAT GOD THINKS OF FUNDEMENTALISM

Boy, talk about taking a word out of context!Look at the last verse of the Hebrew Bible as canonized by the Christian church. The verse is upbeat, and not anything remotely related to Willow's take on it.

In a previous message, I quipped that Willow is taking the word "curse" totally out of context by saying that the last word printed in the Hebrew Bible conveys negativity, or as he puts it, "eternal death." In the message, I said, "The verse is upbeat, and not anything remotely related to Willow's take on it."In Message 84, Willow responds, "The word we are talking about is 'curse'. There is nothing 'upbeat' as you say about the verse or the word."WRONG!To demonstrate my point, I paste the pertinent verses as follows:(Malachi 4:6) "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD."(4:6) "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."Sounds like good news at least for "the fathers and their children." But I am not qualified and will not attempt to interpret prophesy here. Actually, I just want to point out the following:1) Willow appears to want to use jots and tiddles of verse, intermeshed with boxcar loads of wacky ideas to substantiate a bizarre form of Christianity and bash divergent or opposing secular theories or theological beliefs. It's a bogus, sad, and common tactic.2) There is "good news" found in places other than "Paul's Gospel" and that point can be witnessed in the optomistic verses of Malachi, Chapter 4 (among many, many other writings contained within the Hebrew Bible).Peace. Ab.

Prophet Willow's Almighty Word: "The last word in the O.T. is the word 'curse.' This means NOBODY ever kept all the words of the law(Deut.27:26), therefore everyone is under the curse of the penalty of the law which is death. Death is everywhere in the O.T."Again, read Malachi 4:5-6, (the "last words" of the Right Reverend Willow's "Old Testament"): "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."Does that sound like "God's curse of eternal death for the Hebrews?" Nah, not really. Of course you gotta be able to read, Reverend Willow.And now, Rabbi Willow's Almighty Commentary: "The entire O.T. is a record of man failing miserably under law (may I recommend Ecclesiastes and the Song of Soloman, Rabbi Willow?) which repeats its penalty of the curse of death as the very last thought of God via His prophet Malachi."Again, Right Rev., there is no curse of death conveyed in the last few words of Malachi 4:6. But again, one must be able to read. Maybe it was that intense flash of light that blinded Paul and his most arduous followers ...

In Message 108, Willow hints that "maybe I will tell you what Paul the Pharisee of all Pharisees really thought of the Law/God's righteous standard."Willow, please do.It would be very interesting to hear, from your point of view, what a Roman citizen of Jewish birth from a rich family living in a Turkic province who as a Pharisee prosecuted and oversaw the death sentences of some of Jesus's primary followers before his epiphany on the road to Damascus really THOUGHT (not what he said ... but what he actually thought) about the Law.Willow, please include, if you will, what Paul thought regarding Gamaliel's interpretation and teaching of the Law since Paul was his devoted student prior to the Damascus affair.Peace. Ab.This message has been edited by Abshalom, 06-18-2004 11:03 AM