Abraham and his lies

ok I know another religious question but I got a milion of them. OK, Abraham was a choosen person of God. Yeah and he was to have his own nation and blah. But why did he get all his riches through lies and manipulations? I mean every time he go to a new...

place he would lie and say his wife was his sister and they would spare his life and a curse would come down and they would pay him off to get God off their side. Thats messed up. So God gave to abraham through the manipulation of others? How is lies, rewarded here? That doesn't add up. Gen 12 is the start of it. get back at me on this. Cause I was wondering about this one.

Well you really need to pray about this question.

It sounds to me like you've thought it out and already come up with the correct answer. It is indeed messed up and, no matter how any one wants to spin it, I find that sort thing abhorrent.

Excellant Question, Patron.

God gave us the bible to show us how he wanted us to live. The examples given within its pages, are for us to learn from. We can see the struggles that others have went thru, we can see their successes and also their failures.

God did not set them up as someone that is perfect, quiet the opposite. If we truly study the lives of those that have come before us, we will see much imperfection, much failure, but, also, much faith.

God tells us how he wants us to live, in his word.

It is up to us, to search that word, and find a way to obey it.

The bible is complete.

We need no other instruction.

However, many authors have elaborated on the basic truths found in scripture, and given us other works that we can use on our journey.

The Holy Spirit is our guide.

There are many guides out there, but, there is only one Holy spirit.

To get to know him, we have to seek him out, thru scripture, otherwise, we may very well be misled, by an unholy spirit.

The bible is written thru inspirition, and has to be understood, thru the same spirit, living and working within us.

The natural mind, cannot comprehend spiritual things.

To unleash the power that is contained within the pages of the bible, as well as the understandings, we have to have the Holy Spirit.

He is available to all.

He is no respector of persons.

We do not have to join a club, to find him.

We come with a sincere heart, truly willing to learn from him.

He understands our motives, and if they are wrong, he will not respond.

He does not need to prove himself.

He does not need us, we need him.

He is complete in him self.

We are not complete, without him.

He is Alpha Omega, the begining and the end.

patron_of_death. You read it correctly. It really is abhorrent.

I'm intrigued that you think the story of Abram's transgressions are given the OK by God. I've always read them to show how much he messed up, and how much God was prepared to forgive him, and us. Ditto King David - they were great men but set some truly awful examples. We learn by NOT copying them.

flossheal, the whole point is that Abraham was NOT a great man, yet God found favor with him anyway just because Abraham beat god in a wrestling match. Abraham continued to behave as a jerk even after that point with no reprecussions. The only thing God cared about was Abraham's willingness to kill his own son.

I'm sorry, but that's just aweful on multiple levels. There's nothing admirable about either the behavior of Abraham or God in those stories. If you read parallel stories in the Qu'ran or in the Indian Vedas, you would rightfully view it as the creative works of a brutal people.

Abraham was blessed because of his obedience to God.

Read Genesis 26:5

If you follow the commendents and obey them, you will recieve blessings and favor.

Deuteronomy 28

Does that make Abraham a great guy? No.

But nonetheless he was obedient and human. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone acts jerkish, or selfish, or stupid, and so on, so on.

Hope this somewhat helps!