Posted on by Abe Austin

Reasons for Disbelief- The Perceived Immaturity in Childhood Things

The Evolution of My Faith)

When I was a child I had a very simple faith in the gospel. I simply believed what I had been taught, and I accepted it without question. As I became an adolescent and a young man, I became far more critical of my beliefs, requiring more concrete reasons to believe in them. I took apart each component of my theology and tried to understand its purpose and prove whether it was worthy of my devotion or not.

Fortunately, my critical examination proved to be extremely rewarding. I came to realize there were far richer reasons to believe in the gospel than “because my parents said so.” It turned out that the evidence for the gospel was deep and varied, and the curious, critical mind could plumb its depths forever, constantly finding greater meaning and greater justification in faith.

False Maturity)

Looking back, I see what my thought process was as an adolescent and young adult. My logic was that if I had once been a child, and had a simple mind, then anything that I believed in in that state was likely also childish and simplistic. Thus, my childhood faith became suspect merely by association.

And, to be sure, some overly-simplistic childhood notions were discovered, such as believing that society was comprised purely of “bad guys” that always did what was wrong and “good guys” that never did. But there was also much of my old belief system that turned out to be even truer than I had ever known.

Sadly, I know others who reached their adolescent, skeptical phase and never progressed any further. They let their skepticism call into question their faith, but they didn’t seek a meaningful answer. They didn’t conduct their own research or dive deeper to find out the truth of the matter. They found it easier to throw out baby Jesus with Santa Clause, discarding the pale imitations of faith without ever finding the genuine article. The skeptic who does not find the real truth hardens into a cynic, actively resisting any further opportunities for growth.

Such an individual has arrested their intended development. Normally it is a good thing to pass through the phase of skepticism, culling the mind of everything that is superstitious and unfounded while deepening one’s roots into the truer truth that remains. But like many blessings, skepticism is two-sided, becoming a curse to those that misuse it.

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This is Reason #1 for Disbelief: being stuck at an adolescent stage of skepticism, having pushed out all childhood beliefs and becoming hardened and cynical through the process.

There are other reasons for disbelief, and I will examine them over the next few days. I hope this series will be helpful to those who have temporarily lost their way, as well as those trying to rescue a loved one. All the world will be better when all of us can better believe.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 1:11-14

11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

In yesterday’s verses we read about the Pharaoh’s anxiety for the Israelites growing even more numerous and mighty than the Egyptians themselves. What a strange thing, then, that the weaker nation would be able to subjugate the greater.

Perhaps Pharaoh was simply exaggerating when he said the Israelites were more mighty than the Egyptians. Or perhaps he was saying that the Israelite’s trajectory was greater than their own, so they would become more numerous and powerful if things went unchecked. Whether he was using hyperbole, or anticipating the future, or speaking for what was literally the case, the fact still remains that the Israelites were a large and powerful entity. How, then, did the Egyptians overpower them? Why would the Israelites accept subjugation when they could have fought back or moved away?

Some scholars have suggested that verse 11 is describing a gradual process. Perhaps Pharaoh did not totally enslave the Israelites to the degree they were at when Moses came on the scene. As the Israelites were a separate nation, Pharaoh might very well have imposed a special tax or tribute upon them. Then the burden could be made more and more heavy, one step at a time. Certain social restrictions and curfews might have gradually been imposed, always uncomfortable, but never so much at once as to to trigger a full-blown rebellion, at least not until it was too late, and the Israelites had already surrendered too much freedom to resist.

Sadly, this sort of incremental-subjugation approach has been employed countless times, including by Nazi Germany against the more modern-day Israelites. In short, we do not know if the Egyptians employed such a gradual, infesting form of oppression, but it certainly is possible.

Either way, the downfall of the Israelites is an analogy for one of the two great troubles we face in life. If the subjugation was slow and progressive, then it is a type for how we become seduced by gradual temptation to sin. If they were taken suddenly, in a moment, then it is a type for the sharp tragedies of sickness and death that suddenly befall us. Whichever way it happened, the Israelites now found themselves “made to serve with rigour,” and “their lives were bitter with hard bondage,” and only an act of God would deliver them!

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 1:8-10

8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

This verse is, of course, a most pivotal passage in the story of the Israelites. In just a few words the entire fate of the Israelites turned on its head. Without this verse, the story which the entire book of Exodus is dedicated to relating wouldn’t have occurred.

This verse describes the passage from one king of Egypt to another, notably one that never knew Joseph personally. We were told that Joseph lived to the age of one hundred and ten, and depending on the age of the Pharaoh who first made him a prince, it is entirely conceivable that this new pharaoh was three or four generations after that previous ruler. It is also possible that this new king was not the very next ruler born after the death of Joseph, for all we know decades might have passed between the sunset of Joseph and the rise of this new leader. In any case, to this new ruler Joseph was nothing more than a story, and clearly he had no respect to the man’s kin.

And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

The new Pharaoh was frightened of the Israelites. It seems he didn’t expect them to start a war directly, but if another enemy arose, he thought Israel might join in with them. Apparently he did not know that it was never in the cards for the Israelite people to have a hand in the destruction of Egypt. At various times God would command the descendants of Abraham to eradicate certain nations, but only those in the land of Canaan. That was the land of their inheritance, not Egypt. The Pharaoh of Egypt had nothing to fear.

But, of course, these facts would mean nothing to a Pharaoh who approached the Israelites the same as any other nation. This is not the last time that a foreign nation in the Bible will view God’s chosen people with the same skepticism and pessimism as they held for all the rest of the world. Sadly, many times the godly are punished by the distrust of the ungodly.