Discussion Questions
"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." Consider the timing or the context for the giving of God's message, the commandments. Having been delivered from bondage in Egypt, a tribe of people find themselves in the wilderness of the Sinai desert, yet to establish their community. The commandments indeed come at a pivotal time. They provide ethical structure and establish a set of practices that define the spiritual covenant animating the relationship of a people with their divine authority. Are they sufficient basis for the establishment of a society?
In the beginning God created man in His image so says the book of Genesis. God is perfect, the human is perfect. Humans were given options.
15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
http://biblehub.com/kjv/genesis/2.htm
Determining what was good and evil was not a given option for humans at this point. The story of the serpent shows that humans reasoned from a premise that was contrary to the given command or law. So was born the idea of sin or going off course. Human history then became a series of actions based on the reasoned determining of good and evil without reference to God. Before long Genesis chapter six records the following:
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
That every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
God selects Abraham and makes an agreement with him. He believes God and so begins a 'new' relationship of God with humans. Abrahams son and grandson continue 'following the covenant' for several generations until they become enslaved in Egypt. The culture is different, the God of Abraham is not the god of the Egyptians. God selects Moses to establish a written 'code of ethics' that would be sufficient to allow the "children of Israel" to re-establish communities that would preserve the Abrahamic covenant with God.
Hey, everyone,
Please find attached the discussion questions sign-up sheet for your reference. When it is your week, simply email me by 3pm on that Friday a couple of questions you think it would be interesting to explore, inspired by the readings that week.
The short reading responses can be emailed as well. While a lot of the readings are posted on Blackboard, I am not sure entirely how to best facilitate the reading responses or the discussion questions that you'll eventually post through this medium. Email works for me. Receiving them by that afternoon will allow me to gauge where everyone is with the reading and offer an opportunity to bend the class in this or that direction, depending on the reactions.
Keep in touch with any questions or concerns. Thank you to those that have already confirmed their email.
Regards,
Benjamin Breault
Admissions Office
Manchester Community College
Great Path, MS# 12
PO Box 1046
Manchester, CT 06045-1046
ph: 860-512-3229 f: 860-512-3221
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