Christian or Lamechian?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 11:12AM This past Sunday I heard a wonderful sermon from my pastor that I want to share some thoughts from. Rev. D Mark Davis is the pastor at Heartland Presbyterian Church in Clive, IA, where my family and I attend. He’s been preaching for the last three weeks from Genesis 4 and this week focused on Lamech, the great-great-great-grandson of Cain. After Cain killed his brother he encountered God and was cursed for his murder and banished to a wandering life,
“Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.’ And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.”
Several generations later Cain’s descendents had been successful and had grown strong. They became the fathers of cities and Lamech became the father of the Bedouins and the artists and the metalworkers. Pastor Mark highlighted these verses (4:23-24):
“Lamech said to his wives:
‘Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.’”
Mark made a clear distinction between the mark God gave Cain and the mark Lamech claimed for himself. God’s protection of Cain was an act of divine mercy. God was responding to Cain’s desolation and fear. Lamech co-opted God’s words for his own purposes. The promise was not given by God but was taken by Lamech in the service of his own hubris.
In that regard, I think Lamech is a helpful type through which we may view our own hermeneutics. Lamech’s is a cautionary tale that reminds us that we do not have the right to unilaterally requisition God’s words for our own purposes, particularly when the driving energy behind our interpretation is that kind of self-serving arrogance or the defense of our own violence (physical, spiritual, relational or otherwise). He will be a helpful character against which I will judge my own reading of the Bible and also a useful category by which I can understand the proof texting of others. Good stuff.
Reader Comments (15)
I agree Eric, good stuff! Can't say I've heard many sermons on Lamech. But have heard plenty of folk, including me, hijack God's word to support their own hubris, violence and viewpoints. While complicated, I often think that most of the divisions and conflict in the church today come down to different scriptural hermeneutics.
Steve,
If that is the case (and I tend to agree with you on this) how do we not get trapped in circular arguments? If you and I inherently read the Bible differently how we we talk about it in a similar/same way?
Justin
Justin,
Your comment assumes that we should... That being able to formalize faith is both possible and good. I wonder if our diverse hermeneutics are actually more likely to open us to more genuine revelation and to protect us from making God in our own images. That said, we need to have teachable spirits and comfort with the mystery of God for that to work... two things I confess I regularly have trouble with, especially when I get riled up.
Eric,
I don't think we should... experience has shown though that our diverse hermeneutics make dialogue darn near impossible....
Here's to becoming more comfortable with the Mystery of God (cheers)
Justin
Friends
And let me confess my hostility with those within the church who ignore/disparage a good work in the name of Jesus Christ by Exodus International.
Blessings ><>
Mick
Mick,
Does you comment have anything to do with this post? I'm missing the connection. If you're looking for a good venue for a hobby horse, I'd encourage you to write you own post and not derail mine. Thanks.
Eric
Eric--I apologize in advance for hijacking your post as well. It is a very interesting point to ponder.
Mick--I really don't understand your need to continually bring up Exodus International and "ex-gays" on these blogs...particularly posting comments on it that are completely unrelated to the blogger's post (as in this case). Have you done your research on Exodus International? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_International
Clearly this is a group with a scandalous history, yet you tout them as being a moral authority and a group doing "good work". At the risk of incurring your "hostility", why is this group, and this cause, so close to your heart that it is the content of almost everything you contribute on these blogs?
Sorry Eric
I was responding to Justin's coarse comments regarding diverse hermeneutics and impossible dialogue. Exodus International scandalous? hardly more than us average everyday sinners saved by the blood of Jesus.
Mick ;-)
Mick,
I fail to see how my comments were coarse or directed in any way to Exodus International? I whole heartedly am committed to dialogue, (hence my continued participation on the blog) but like Steve, recognize that most of our conflicts and divisions stem from diverse hermeneutics. And while it may be nearly impossible at times, I still think we need to engage each other. My questions earlier were in no way to say that we all need to think alike...but an honest question about if we are to engage in this hard life of living together...how do we do it when we disagree on something so fundamental as how we approach the Bible.
Open to talking,
Justin
I want to affirm what Eric said "That said, we need to have teachable spirits and comfort with the mystery of God for that to work... two things I confess I regularly have trouble with, especially when I get riled up." This is a place to start in our diverse hermeneutics but it is easier said than done, as Eric also points out.
This was recently posted on the RCA Facebook page:
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/29/my-take-why-christians-are-jerks-online/
Blogs may not be the best place to have dialogs but it is all we sometimes have in a geographically diverse denomination.....
Note the above link is not directed at anyone...just a comment on how hard it is to dialogue on blogs...
Justin
Mick -- is "darn" the coarse part?
I find that when I get a little het up about this kind of thing, it's helpful for me to do a speck inspection. If you get my drift.
Trusting that that wasn't coarse.
Thanks Paul - not as coarse as my eyes first saw it as two words are synonomous but close lookalikes when reading too fast for one's age. Blessings. - Mick ;-)
Justin
My hermeneutics are similar to those of J Vernon McGee. With whom would you agree in your approach to the Bible?
Blessings ><>
Mick
Mick,
I am glad you have someone you can point to and that I am guessing you consider him a teacher. I have been pondering your question and I can't point to just one. As I though about who has influenced my hermeneutics, I counted at least 6 professors, 5 ministers, 2 elders and a deacon along with a few writers have significantly who have helped shape how I read the Bible. One thing that they all held in common was that none of them had the same, or at times even similar, hermeneutic as another, yet from all of them I learned something that has become part of me today.
I must admit I know very little about J Vernon McGee other than that he was a radio preacher and the pastor of a prominent church in California.What would be more helpful to me in understanding your hermeneutic would be to talk about how you/we use things like historical, literary, and contextual criticism, for starters.
Justin
Justin
Perhaps better to say that i am likeminded to J Vernon McGee.
My hermeneutics? Accepting that the Bible is the Word of God. That God does not change, Malachi 3:6. That Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, Hebrews 13:8. That the Author, as the Holy Spirit, is present when one reads the Bible, Deut. 8:3 and Matthew 4:4. That the Word convicts men and women unto sin and repentance and salvation in Christ Jesus, John 16:8. That with God all things are possible, transforming even the chief of sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15.
Mick ><>