What is the point of this request God makes?

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Eucharisted said:
It’s symbolic of future events.
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It certainly does not read that way. Not to mention, God asks this man to use human feces to do this, (forgetting how that kinda breaks his own rules?) but this man says, wait a minute God, all this stuff, sure I will do it but no way will I do something unclean like the human feces part. So, God then changes it to cow feces. :confused:
 
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StrawberryJam said:
😦

Even there, God changes his mind.
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Ezekiel would only be unclean according to the customs of the times. Many rules were made which were cultural, and God permitted it for the good of His People. But He did not tell His People that touching dung would make them unclean. Hence, He tells Ezekiel to use dung. The Prophet protests, believing he will be made unclean, because that’s the cultural rule. God knows the rules, but He is not bound by them. Ezekiel learns this.
 
Eucharisted said:
((

Ezekiel would only be unclean according to the customs of the times. Many rules were made which were cultural, and God permitted it for the good of His People. But He did not tell His People that touching dung would make them unclean. Hence, He tells Ezekiel to use dung. The Prophet protests, believing he will be made unclean, because that’s the cultural rule. God knows the rules, but He is not bound by them. Ezekiel learns this.
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You started out by saying this is symbolic, but it seems you are now taking the handling of dung part literally.
 
MarcoPolo said:
What do you mean?
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I mean God mentions human waste.
The man objects to that.
God says, okay fine. I will make it cow waste then.

The entire thing is being done for what purpose? This is divinely inspired writing?
 
StrawberryJam said:
I mean God mentions human waste.
The man objects to that.
God says, okay fine. I will make it cow waste then.

The entire thing is being done for what purpose? This is divinely inspired writing?
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God doesn’t “change” His mind. He is outside of time and in order to change, there has to be a “before” and an “after” which does not apply to God. God communicated through the ancient writers, and we must understand what they were trying to say in accord with their understanding of reality, thus it sounds like God is moving along through time with those in time and space. Whereas He is outside the mural of time and space, and knows in advance (to us) what decisions man will make, thus the ancient writers would describe God in terms that sound like “changing” His mind.

I do not understand your criteria on the latter. It is forbidden for dung to be mentioned in Scripture? Why?
 
MarcoPolo said:
God doesn’t “change” His mind. He is outside of time and in order to change, there has to be a “before” and an “after” which does not apply to God. God communicated through the ancient writers, and we must understand what they were trying to say in accord with their understanding of reality, thus it sounds like God is moving along through time with those in time and space. Whereas He is outside the mural of time and space, and knows in advance (to us) what decisions man will make, thus the ancient writers would describe God in terms that sound like “changing” His mind.

I do not understand your criteria on the latter. It is forbidden for dung to be mentioned in Scripture? Why?
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You are telling me that God did not change his mind from telling him to use human dung then seconds later after the man objects, tells him he can use cow dung instead?

But- how can you say that when that is exactly what it says? Is this how christians read the bible?
I do not hold the position dung can not be mentioned in the bible at all. However, like that man I wonder why God would want him to use unclean dung, vs “clean” dung when he is talking to him.

Still, either way no one is telling me what the point of this is.:confused:
 
StrawberryJam said:
You are telling me that God did not change his mind from telling him to use human dung then seconds later after the man objects, tells him he can use cow dung instead?

But- how can you say that when that is exactly what it says? Is this how christians read the bible?
I do not hold the position dung can not be mentioned in the bible at all. However, like that man I wonder why God would want him to use unclean dung, vs “clean” dung when he is talking to him.

Still, either way no one is telling me what the point of this is.:confused:
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I did not tell you what you are asserting here…I said the human author uses temporal language in describing God. I don’t think the Haydock commentary was unhelpful, even though you say it didn’t help. The Catholic Church has not defined the meaning of every Scripture. It may help you to read other commentaries, like the Navarre (if you want I can post that tonight), or do a search for the passage you like at sites like this one. For any passage that remains undefined or confusing, you are free to offer your theological understanding. It is not a correct criteria to impose on the Church that it must have already defined all passages of Scripture.
 
MarcoPolo said:
I did not tell you what you are asserting here…I said the human author uses temporal language in describing God. I don’t think the Haydock commentary was unhelpful, even though you say it didn’t help. The Catholic Church has not defined the meaning of every Scripture. It may help you to read other commentaries, like the Navarre (if you want I can post that tonight), or do a search for the passage you like at sites like this one. For any passage that remains undefined or confusing, you are free to offer your theological understanding. It is not a correct criteria to impose on the Church that it must have already defined all passages of Scripture.
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So, there is a point to these passages then?
 
StrawberryJam said:
So, there is a point to these passages then?
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Yes, and as I said, we may or may not have a full understanding at this time of every passage in Scripture. That is a rule imposed by some people, but is an invented rule of their own design.
 
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