Still here and still loving it!!!!

We definately agree with Ang. and not hearing God like they were able to in the Old Testiment. We have commented several times about whether we would have questioned God when he was right there with us and we were able to hear him on a regular basis. I guess that is another one of you never know what you will do until you are in that situation.

The explicite detail that God goes into when he tells the Isrialites how to make the tabernacle and everything in it is amazing. It definately made it easy for them to make it. I didn't care for the sprinkeling of the blood on Aaron and his priests from some of the offerings. I can only imagine how that would smell after awhile. To tell you the truth we have skimmed over some of the finer details. Reading aloud to everyone is a little hard with just facts.

Now reading Matthew has been great. Especially since this is the Lenten season. I know we will be through it by the time Easter gets here, but that's ok. Christy has been adding a great deal to the discussion we have during and after the nights reading. It is wonderful to see her faith blossom and grow.

Ok, so I have a question on last nights reading. All this time God has been talking to various people, Jacob, Issac, Moses etc. I don't remember just how I guess I never thought of it. But when Moses has been going up on the mountain and talking to God I just assumed that they were talking face to face. But in Exedus 33:20-23 he tells Moses that no man may see me and live. So he pushed him into a cleft in the mountain with his hand while he passes so Moses will only see his back. I wonder why no man can see his face. Is is beyond our comprehension? Would we not be able to handle what he really looks like? I guess we will all find out in our alloted time.

I pray everyone is getting as much out of this study as we are. It is bringing our family together in a very different and wonderful way.

Julia

Is anybody out there?

It's been pretty quiet on the blog lately - just wondering who's around and still reading...

In today's OT reading I found it interesting that in the first part we are commanded by God to among other things, "not murder." And yet, on the next page we are to "put to death" anyone who "strikes a man, schemes and kills another man deliberately, attacks his father or mother, kidnaps and sells or still has someone, curses his father or mother," etc... Any thoughts?

Hope everyone's doing well - we're already a month down, only eleven more to go!

~ Sarah

The Plagues

I have been holding off on posting about all this Moses stuff because I thought it might become clear to me but it hasn't. So here goes:

- Why does God harden Pharoh's heart every time he makes Moses and Aaron go talk to him? I know they didn't have a lot of free will back then but it seems as though God was playing a mean trick on the Egyptians, who didn't really get a say in it.

- How did God and Moses have these chats? Was God a voice? Was there a confessional box like the Catholics? Was there a pay phone? Random burning bushes around Egypt? Do you think Moses was hearing God in his head? I mean maybe Moses was just schizophrenic and the Isrealites wandered around for 430 years for no reason? Maybe they really did have a reason to complain?

- This communication thing is really interesting to me, in the old testament, everyone gets to speak directly to God and knows exactly what God wants them to do. But we don't ever know how. It doesn't say he appears to them, they didn't have phones, so how did they talk to him. And how did they know it was him. Did I miss something in Sunday school or does this bother anyone else?