Hello Ray,
I've been reading your take on scripture from time to time and find your information very interesting and your insight impressive. I just stopped by to ask you a question on a phrase from Isaiah 40.28 "He never grows weak and weary" compared to Isaiah 43.24 "Instead you burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults" . Does the Lord get weary? I'm quoting off the New Living Translation.
Another question is in regards to tithing; I know it takes money to run a church but what part do we play in helping the church pay it's overhead, etc.? I know God does not need our money but how do we help support our church? My opinion, now as I take a closer look at churches and how they function, is that they are a lot like business's with good marketing strateg ies to get more customers(followers) in the door. I know churches need money: But how much do they need and really where is it going? I see these nice big mega churches with great youth programs, cool music, nice cafe's, and great speakers(pastors), but really how is the church helping change laws or create ones that benefit society. There is an army of christians in this nation but most seem to be passive. My view point may be totally wrong but I just wanted hear your opinion? I'm not saying that I have room to talk but I think we need more than the cool atmosphere at church and a few donations to the needy. Thanks for your time, Andy
Dear Andy:
Probably 90% of the tens of thousands of emails I have received have to do with presumed "contradictions." This one, I must admit, on the surface does appear to be almost unanswerable--kinda like the one in Jeremiah where God said it never entered His "mind" that Israel would burn the children to Molech. "Mind" should have been properly translated "heart" in this verse, which totally does away with the apparent contradiction.
In your contradiction question, we read the following:
Isa. 40:28, "...the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is WEARY..."
Isa. 43:24, "...but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast WEARIED Me with thine iniquities."
In this case you can check the Hebrew, check different versions and translations, but it says what it says just as we have it in the King James. So what is the answer? Is this an unsolvable and true contradiction of Scripture?
I have learned to look at words verys carefully, and to not assume that what is said is the same as what we we "think" is actually meant.
Isa. 40:28 says of God that He , "neither [no, not] is weary." If we had a verse that said that God "IS weary," then we would truly have a difficult contradiction to solve, but that is not what we have in these two verses.
One says God is NOT weary, but another says God has BEEN wearied. Now we have a difference. Someone else is doing the "wearying." In the first, God tells us His lack of BEING weary, while in the second it is an action coming from sinful Israel. Sinful ISRAEL HAS "wearied God." But here's the questions: Does sinful Israel's act of "wearying," actually cause God TO BE weary? I realize that all sounds confusing, but notice how simple it becomes if I substitute a different verb in place of the verb "wearied."
Let me ask you this: Is God Almighty "CURSED?" No, I doubt that anyone would believe that a mortal could actually "curse" God so that the result would be that God would BE CURSED. Years ago a Christian Minister "cursed" our bible-truths.com site. Did his "curse" actually cause our site to BE CURSED? No, of course not, we continued to grow year after year after year after his "curse" on us. Well, God too was cursed by sinful Israel when we read a proper translation of Malachi 3:9...
"With a curse YOU CURSE Me, and Me you are defrauding--the nation, all of it."
Yes, the same sinful Israel "cursed" God Almighty, but...........BUT, did that cause God to actually and literally BE CURSED? Has God been living under some deprivation as a result of Israel "cursing" Him? God was a "cursed God," but suffered NO CURSE. Israel's sinful "wearing" actually and literally did not cause God TO BE "weary."
There is one other aspect to this kind of situation in Scripture. God IS NOT A MAN, however, He often assumes the role of a man when speaking to mankind. He speaks of His arm, His hand, His plan, His purpose, etc., etc., as if He was a man. God REPENTS of things in Scripture (Gen. 6:6) as if He was a man, but we are told that"
Num 23:19, " GOD IS NOT A MAN, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should REPENT."
God be with you,
Ray
