Scripture doesn’t hide the mistakes of people like Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, or even Jonah. Their successes are recorded, but so are their failures.
Why do you think God chose to preserve both instead of presenting only their best moments?
1 Like
Two reasons.
- God is a God of truth, he tells us like it is, not how people would like it to be.
- to encourage us, the people in the bible are real, they succeed and the fail, they are brave and they lack bravery and are frightened.They are people we can identify with because they are real, not cardboard cut outs.We see them fail and we see God forgiving them and still using them in his service.
As a result we to can fail, repent, be restored and continue to serve.
1 Like
The Bible is different from all other ancient histories in this way, @ellenvera. It shows the ancestors’ sins and failings like King David’s adultery and murder.
First, it shows these people’s weaknesses to comfort his people with the thought that, though we are also weak morally and in other ways, he still wants to use us as his witnesses to scatter the seeds of the gospel.
Second, it teaches us humility so that we will recognize our lowly status in comparison to his perfection and to prevent pride in our lives.
Third, the writers of ancestors’ weaknesses, unlike other ancient historians, show us that God has inspired prophets, apostles, and people who knew them to write what he wanted them to write, since humans would generally want to hide those events and whitewash their ancestors’ lives as a matter of national pride. Thus, it’s evidence that God definitely inspired the writing of the Bible.
This is such a good discussion question. I think I’ll use it to get my kids thinking some things through and applying it to their own lives.