On 21/1/03 2:35 PM, "Marlin Halverson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It might help me if you had your topics more bite sized.
My apologies Marin, It seemed to me that David was starting further "down the track" than I expected so I wanted to bring you "up to speed". Hebrews 7: 9-10 �One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchiz'edek met him�. This is an example of a linguistic background which identified sperm with children and vice versa, so that in these times, the male was thought to provide the whole of the �seed� (David will share his doubts on this). The woman provided the equivalent of a garden bed. There was no uniting of sperm and ova in what we know as conception. What happened was more like germination. If the woman was �good soil� then she produced a boy. If the woman was �poor soil� then she produced a girl. If the woman was �barren� then she produced nothing. Since the female does not provide anything but nurture, the ancestor was thought to contain within himself all of his descendents in some sense. Hebrews 7:9-10 then does not mean that Levi was a living breathing person when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. It does mean that there was an �ancestral presence� that intimately involved Levi with the incident. This is, of course, not in accordance with modern science, because Biology has shown that females are essential to the genetic makeup of a person and since all of Levi�s genes were not in Abraham, Levi as a person could not be present. (Early in Jewish history "Jewishness" was passed through the male line but a some later time "Jewishness" came to be passed through the female line.) However using the sperm=children �ancestral presence� idea, a number of Christian doctrines are illuminated. This demonstrates that it doesn't matter that the Biblical models are not in accord with modern science because we have to construct "theology" with Biblical models. Some examples: A belief in �ancestral presence� underlies the doctrine of �original sin� in Romans 5:12. Since all of Adam�s descendants are considered to be �in� Adam�s seed when he sinned, all of his descendants are intimately involved with that sin and its consequence. Thus people died from Adam to Moses (and beyond) because of their heritage (Adam�s �ancestral presence�) even though they hadn�t disobeyed God�s explicit command as Adam did. To be free from this heritage, people need to be �born again� from incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23) and be animated by God�s breath/spirit. This is reflected in 1 John 2:9 where it reads: �Whoever is begotten by God does no sin, because [God�s] seed abides in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten by God�. John is saying that God�s seed in the Redeemed has replaced �original sin� with �original righteousness�. Cheers Peter -- Peter Eyland Sydney Australia Web page: http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~epe ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
