A key to the theology of Walter Wink seems to be the contrast between the Babylonian creation myth and the Hebrew creation story. The Babylonian story is a world created as a result of family conflict and murder, in other words a world with its very roots in violence, while the Hebrew picture of a world created by the command of a unitary benevolent God. Each myth fosters a different culture and religion with a different attitude toward violence.

Since I have been preaching from the Exodus throughout the summer I have been thinking about the different pictures of God which emerge within our Scriptures. Let me assure any heresy hunters that I affirm that the God of Abraham is the same God as the God of Moses and the same God revealed in Jesus Christ. Still it is hard to deny that there are fundamental differences in the various revelations of God’s nature and personality. I wonder how the culture of the people in these three eras of history has effected human perception of God and how the various perceptions of God have effected culture.

The God of Genesis, especially the God of Abraham is a relatively benevolent God whose primary interaction with people is to reveal his love and his promises to Abraham and his descendants. God reveals God’s self through dreams in the night or through personal encounters with those who appear to be human beings. There are no violent epiphanies nor are there deliverances of laws and commandments. The manifestations of a violent nature to God are limited to God bringing the flood (but afterwards God promises never again to destroy the world by flood), and God destroying the city of Sodom. There are a few references to the patriarchs building altars and even fewer references to sacrifices. The glaring exception to this pastoral picture of God is the near sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac. What kind of benevolent God asks parents to sacrifice their children? Many scholars believe this story has been preserved for the very purpose of repudiating child sacrifice, note God’s voice says “do not lay a hand on the child.” This primarily non violent picture of God is matched by a society with little warfare or violence. Abraham seeks to live at peace with the other people, when Abraham and Lot have a disagreement they go their separate ways instead of waging war against one another.

Quite in contrast Moses (a murderer himself) worships a God revealed in storm, earthquake, wind and fire. God’s epiphany at Sinai is much like a cataclysmic volcanic eruption. The Lord travels with the people as a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. The God of Moses is a God of stern laws who prescribes capital punishment for a variety of offenses. This God destroys enemies by drowning, plagues, fiery serpents, and by making the earth split open and swallow offenders. Moses repeatedly pleads with the Lord not to totally destroy this people who Moses brought out of Egyptian slavery. The God of Moses sometimes seems violent and dangerous, even irrational. What kind of God is the Lord who calls Moses to go to Pharaoh and free the people and then tries to kill Moses one night on the way (Exodus 4:24)?

The subsequent history of the people who come to occupy the promised land is a history of warfare and violence. From the conquest and occupation of Canaan through the periods of the Judges and Kings the story of God’s people is a story of warfare and violence. Although the violence is often against external enemies it also involves enmity between tribes and families, and even within families. David, the most dominating figure in the period of the kings was a man of warfare and violence, he single-handedly conquered Goliath, killed Bathsheba’s husband, and waged war on his own rebellious children as well as on all the enemies of Israel.

The God revealed in the life of Jesus appears to have more in common with the God of Abraham than the God revealed to Moses and the people at Sinai. Jesus taught about a forgiving and loving God and taught a thoroughgoing ethic of love and non-violence. It seems unclear to what extent Jesus regarded his death as martyrdom or as an end to the sacrificial system by offering himself as the one sufficient sacrifice. What is clear is that there is no record of his participating in the sacrificial cult beyond eating the Passover. It is also evident that any participation of his followers in bloody sacrifice ended with the separation of the Jesus movement from the Jewish religion.

The question obviously arises then: Why has this view of God as a loving father had so little effect on the societies which claim to accept this religious orientation. To the extend that the Western World has been influenced by Jesus one should expect the history of the past two millennia to be quite different from the reality of warfare and violence. Are we finally at a point in history when we must rethink our God and our behavior?

This morning Center City Churches’ Development Committee met; usually a so-so event, but this morning a most exciting report on the first fruits of our affiliation with the Hands On Network. Center City Churches as one of the newest Hands On affiliates will be coordinating two events as part of a national Corporate Month of Service. On Saturday September 16 as many as 50 United Health Care employees will be providing volunteer service for an extreme makeover of Peter’s Retreat. The project will continue on Thursday when Home Depot will be mobilizing as many as 200 volunteers along with major financial backing to finish the Job of transforming Peter’s Retreat from a once elegant but now shabby residence into a beautifully transformed home for the 26 residents who living with HIV/AIDS.

Perhaps you have wondered what happened to my weekly entries this month; I have been away in North Carolina on vacation. We had a wonderful time with our long time friends and were happy that our daughter and family were able to join us for the first week of vacation. Our beautiful 5 month old granddaughter Hanna Marie was a delight. If you want to see some pictures we took of her follow this link http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/revtdavis@sbcglobal.net/album?.dir=/2ff7re2&.src=ph&.tok=phMs2XFBgQE5UxPY

The one sad part of our vacation was finding out that two of the residents of Peter's Retreat died during the time we were gone. One was Willie a man I had been visiting with once a week for about two years, the other was Maggie, a long time resident who everyone seemed to love because of her sweet and outgoing personality. I had visited with both of them the day before we left before vacation and was able to say some things to each of them knowing that it might be my last opportunity.