Except he wasn't really the firstborn, because Leah was Jacob's first wife whether he liked it or not. Remember also that Jacob himself is not a firstborn, Esau is, and Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing that was rightfully Esau's.
Then without being a believer already, a person cannot understand the text that is supposed to inspire belief. See the problem?
I never mentioned Abraham, just that some parts of the bible are comedic in a non cynical way.
For when your wife was always barren. In case you didn't know, women have a set amount of time in which they can have children. Using a surrogate for Rachel makes sense, because she was barren until the very end, but using one for Leah makes no sense. Do you really think it was customary to be expected to continuously father children? Leah was the mother of 7 children in total; 6 sons and 1 daughter, with 4 of the sons born consecutively. If she had only daughters, a surrogate might have made some sense, but with 4 sons? No.
I actually did get Levi as the first group of 6 I was sure about. The reason I remembered them is because they were important to the story, and for important characters, I tried to make mnemonics to keep track of them, since a lot of names get tossed around in the bible and at times make it hard to keep track of who is doing what. However, some of the names were so odd I couldn't figure out a way to remember their exact names, so I had nicknames for them that helped me keep track, like making myself read Zebulun as Zulu, which I remember from history class, and Issachar as "the one like Isaac". Naphtali is the one I forgot completely.I'm impressed, Sarah!
You did good!
I believe you left Levi out.
Incidentally ... and none of my business ... but when's the big day?
Ok, but the bible definitely implies that good works alone are not enough (and depending on the passages you read, they don't matter at all).
There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Only through Jesus can we be saved. Everyone has this in common, from every tribe, tongue people and nation. We can only be saved though the Blood of Jesus give for us at Calvary.
Then what was the point of your previous response? Obviously, you believe atheists such as myself, no matter how much they live like the bible implies people should, will burn in hell anyways.
A am an annihilationist. I would like to be a universalist but the Bible talks a lot about total and utter destruction. I assume that you also are an annihilationist. The only difference is that God has impressed upon me many times that He is a God of absolute Justice and His Scales of Justice are Perfectly Balanced.
They should all be over in the goat line jockeying to be first......It's doubtful that there will be many 'atheists' at the end of the White Throne Judgment period.
That's still a problem. Why would a person that doesn't get this supposed deeper meaning believe the more shallow meaning they can derive from the text?
I don't think that is going to do much. If YHWH was willing to let this woman beat the Christian out of her son, the deity doesn't care or doesn't exist.I'll submit this to a Higher Authority for action.
