{"id":25259,"date":"2024-10-28T11:11:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T16:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelligent-torvalds.74-208-171-134.plesk.page\/?p=25259"},"modified":"2025-08-23T08:05:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T13:05:57","slug":"introduction-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/?p=25259","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

I heard a sermon recently that transported me back to the fourth quarter of my seventeenth year. Actually, I heard it twice, but it didn’t click the first time. The sermon was from Genesis 19<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah receded into the fiery background of the source of sorrow<\/a>: Even the righteous<\/em> stray from God’s righteousness. Don’t compromise with the world, was the application. And the empowering grace<\/a> was: I can trust God to punish me for my sins\u2014eventually. The fear factor,1<\/sup><\/a> which was probably also intended as motivation, was that even though Lot was saved, he lost everything, particularly his wealth. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>To any who would strive to become<\/a> the righteousness of God<\/i>2<\/sup><\/a> by obeying applications, \u201cDon’t compromise with the world,\u201d offers the vaguest direction possible and the widest possible latitude for those who would police others. This sermon confronted me with my church and my own religious beliefs at seventeen. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though the text wasn’t mentioned explicitly, the empowering grace reminded me of the Lord’s words to Moses (Exodus 34:6a, 7b ESV).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lord passed before [Moses]<\/em> and proclaimed, \u201cThe Lord, the Lord [Table<\/a>]<\/em>…who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children\u2019s children, to the third and the fourth generation\u201d [Table<\/a>]<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My actual experience at that time helps now to clarify the empowering grace that I misunderstood then: You can’t trust God to punish you for your sins in the near term<\/a>, because He is (Exodus 34:6b, 7a ESV):<\/span><\/p>\n

…a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness [Table<\/a>]<\/em>, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin [Table<\/a>]<\/em>… <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t recall being led to Exodus 34:6, 7 at seventeen. I may have received it then as more evidence that \u201cGod\u2019ll getcha if you don\u2019t watch out!\u201d3<\/sup><\/a> As my last hope for God’s existence\u2014my faith that God would punish me for my sin in the near term\u2014proved false (and after a very brief<\/a> last ditch effort to retain some faith in Him as evil<\/a>), I became an atheist<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, fifty-three years later, I’ll look more closely at the Scripture He brought to mind in response to this sermon.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Exodus 34:6, 7 (Tanakh)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Exodus 34:6, 7 (NET)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Exodus 34:6, 7 (NETS)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Exodus 34:6, 7 (English Elpenor)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

And HaShem passed by before [Moses], and proclaimed: \u2018The HaShem, HaShem, G-d, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth [Table<\/a>];<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: \u201cThe Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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And the Lord passed by before his face, and he called, \u201cThe Lord, the Lord God is compassionate and merciful, patient and very merciful and truthful [Table<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

And the Lord passed by before his face, and proclaimed, The Lord God, pitiful and merciful, longsuffering and very compassionate, and true,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means (\u05d9\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05b6\u0594\u05d4<\/a>) clear (\u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4\u0599<\/a>) the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children\u2019s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation\u2019 [Table<\/a>]<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means (n\u0101q\u00e2<\/i>, \u05d9\u05e0\u05e7\u05d4<\/a>) leaves the guilty unpunished (n\u0101q\u00e2<\/i>, \u05d5\u05e0\u05e7\u05d4<\/a>), responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children\u2019s children, to the third and fourth generation.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

and preserving righteousness and doing mercy for thousands, taking away acts of lawlessness and of injustice and sins, and he will not acquit (\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd7<\/a>) the guilty person (\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd<\/a> \u1f14\u03bd\u03bf\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd<\/a>), bringing lawless acts of fathers upon children and upon children of children, upon the third and fourth generation\u201d [Table<\/a>].<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquity, and unrighteousness, and sins; and he will not clear (\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03b9\u03b5\u1fd6<\/a>) the guilty (\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd<\/a> \u1f14\u03bd\u03bf\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd<\/a>); bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and to the children\u2019s children, to the third and fourth generation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In the Tanakh on chabad.org<\/a> the Hebrew verbs \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4\u0599<\/a> (n\u0101q\u00e2<\/i>) and \u05d9\u05b0\u05e0\u05b7\u05e7\u05bc\u05b6\u0594\u05d4<\/a> (n\u0101q\u00e2<\/i>) separated by a negative particle \u05dc\u05b9\u05a3\u05d0<\/a> (l\u014d’<\/i>) were translated, He does not completely clear [of sin]<\/i>. The explanation of that clause is a bit clearer as well: He visits the iniquity of parents on children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generations<\/i>.4<\/sup><\/a> This characterizes the main point of this sermon as well as anything I heard in it: One’s sins show up again in one’s children\u2014whether those children are actual biological descendants or not, I’ll add from my own experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wouldn’t have recognized this as filling the position of empowering grace in this sermon apart from Brian Chapell’s<\/a> book5<\/sup><\/a> and the gentleness of the preacher. At seventeen, I had no children. I couldn’t imagine how seeing their own sins revisited in their children might impact parents, especially if they knew God through Exodus 34:6, 7. But being brought back, after so many years, to the final moments before I became an atheist has focused my attention on the time and the many trials and errors that have led me to this current moment. It prompts a question: <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Is there anything I can do to help others shave a few years off that time, anything that might mitigate or eliminate the necessity of enduring some of those same trials or errors? <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope to explore that possibility in future essays.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Exploration, Part 1<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

1<\/sup><\/a> The \u201cfear factor\u201d was not taught in the preaching course I’ve been taking. It is something I’ve noticed in some sermons. This particular fear factor is of questionable value since Job (Job 1-2<\/a>) lost everything for a time, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2<\/sup><\/a> 2 Corinthians 5:21b (ESV) Table<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3<\/sup><\/a> Torture, Part 4<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4<\/sup><\/a> Exodus 34:7b (Tanakh<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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5<\/sup><\/a> Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon<\/a>, 3rd Edition by Bryan Chapell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I heard a sermon recently that transported me back to the fourth quarter of my seventeenth year. Actually, I heard it twice, but it didn’t click the first time. The sermon was from Genesis 19. The destruction of Sodom and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6341],"tags":[2198,2319,1829],"class_list":["post-25259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-section-seven","tag-2-corinthians-521","tag-exodus-346-7","tag-exodus-347"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25259"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27528,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25259\/revisions\/27528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}