Johnny Skeptic

Mark 16:15 says "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Was that command carried out by Godly means or by human means. The best evidence shows that the latter is the correct answer. The supposedly most important message in history was spread by foot, mule, camel, horse, boat etc. at a pace that makes a Galapogos tortoise seem like a race horse by comparison. Obviously, God didn't care at all that over the last 2,000 years, tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of people, have died without ever having heard the Gospel message. Such being the case, why did God care if "anyone" ever heard the Gospel message?

Barry A. Kosmin and Seymour P. Lachman wrote a book titled ‘One Nation Under God.’ Billy Graham said “‘One Nation Under God’ is quite possibly the most comprehensive and thoughtful profile of contemporary American religious life in print.� I don't have any idea why Graham endorses the book since the authors cite a substantial amount of documented research that shows that geography, family, race, ethnicity, gender and age are the chief factors that determine religious beliefs. No loving God would choose to limit the knowledge of his specific existance and will to those factors.

Consider the following from page 210:

“A Gallup Poll that inquired into one key measurement – how important a role people say religion plays in their own lives – showed that women (66%) are far more likely than men (48%) to attach great importance to religion, and
that men (18%) are more than twice as likely as women (8%) to say that it is not very important to them. Age differences are also significant. Less than half of those under age 30 (46%) say that religion is very important to them, whereas among those who are 50 and older, 70% consider religion of great importance in their lives.�

Kosmin and Lachman’s research does not indicate supernatural factors at work, but rather the natural factors of geography, family, race ethnicity, gender and age, the very same factors that account for the spread of all other religions. The important factors of geography and family are well attested to by the fact that 90% of South Americans are Roman Catholics. Geography and family account for an even higher percentage of Muslims in Iraq and Syria.

The question must be asked, in the Old Testament, why didn't God give the Jews a version of the Great Commission so other groups of people would have been able to learn about the specific existance and will of God?

mickw

I don't think Yahweh has much of a "big tent" philosophy in the OT; most of it reads as a classic "us vs. them".

What is forbidden by the 10 C's for actions inside the group (killing, adultery, theft) is, a few chapters later, required for actions in dealing with those outside the group (put them to the sword, take the women as booty, depoil them, etc.).

Johnny Skeptic

I would like for Christians to explain why the God of the Old Testament only wanted to let Jews know about his specific existance and will, but completely changed his approach in the New Testament. I already know the correct answer, but I want to hear what Christians have to say about this issue. The correct answer is that Old Testament Jews appointed themselves as God's chosen people. Why in the world would God have chosen Jews to be his chosen people to the exclusion of all other groups of people?

mickw

Gotcha. Should be interesting.

spin

Toims change. God's godda keep up, ya know. You can look at it like god winds 'em up an' let 'em go, then nudges 'em every now an' then.


spni

Chili

The mythology is for the survival and prosperity of the tribe and that makes Jews God's favorite people. Catholics, on the other hand, wrote the NT and that makes Catholics God's favorite New Testament people. Jews have the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and we have Jesus the Christ and many more like him.

yalla

Quote: "Why in the world would God have chosen Jews to be his chosen people to the exclusion of all other groups of people?"

How odd
Of god
To choose
The Jews!

I read that somewhere.

Toto

attributed to Ogden Nash

yalla

The bit I read was in some scholar's work, I can't remember who.
But I do wonder why he omitted Nash's second bit.

Clivedurdle

What does "every creature" mean? How does one take the gospel to an amoeba?