I’d never connected idolatry with self-determination before, but it makes sense: the essence of the Fall was man asserting the right to “know” (=determine) good and evil for himself, apart from God. Since then, man has taken it upon himself to decide what is good enough to worship.

This post has provoked some questions….

1) How would you finish the sentence below?

“As the repentant thief should not simply refrain from stealing, but rather strive to be satisfied with God’s provision, in the same way the repentant idolater should not simply refrain from worshipping idols, but rather….”?

2) Am I to understand that you see all sin as stemming from our self-determination?

3) Is self-determination what the serpent promised Eve when he said that she would “be like God”?

4) While we must not usurp God’s authority to determine what is *ultimately* good and evil, has not God delegated some authority to us in this regard when He gave man dominan over the earth? For example, artists choose meanings for their own creations, and engineers freely make trade-offs between conflicting design constraints in an attempt to strike a good balance. Isn’t then the problem not that we self-determine what our own creations mean and what is good in certain situations, but that we also try to determine things that are actually God’s prerogative?

I recently finished The Drama of Scripture (an absolutely wonderful book) and I have a much greater appreciation for the Old Testament. It’s a pretty quick and compelling read so you may want to check it out.

P.S. Do you live in Minneapolis?

I used to think Reason V was the most significant benefit, but you’ve displayed a much greater vision of the value of the OT.