2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your fathers lived of old beyond the Euphra′tes, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
He grew up in a pagan nation, and God hadn't revealed himself yet.
Yet, Abram receives instructions from God and builds temples dedicated to His worship years before he becomes Abraham, so I see no reason to associate the name Abram with paganism.Originally Posted by SentimentalSlop
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
What I am saying though is that that is before the promise. Abraham was most likely pagan though before those several years. Abraham knew God only when he was 75 years old. That's kind of a long time. Almost all his life went by already before knowing who God is.
Last edited by SentimentalSlop; 10-12-2013 at 12:24 AM.
How can Abram be pagan if he was already worshipping the true God? God changed Abram's name to Abraham only when he was 99 years old (Genesis chapter 17).
Exit, pursued by a bear.
And the line quoted, actually indicates Abraham was not pagan, as it clearly avoind claiming Abraham was one of the pagans but mentions his father (which goes well, as Abraham did had trouble with his father idolatry). It more than anything confirms Pip's.
Before being renamed Abraham, Abram was not bound to any promise. A covenant is an unbreakable bond between God and man. Shylock acts as if he is not bound by any promise to his proclaimed faith in God through his manipulation, usury, and hatred. Shylock recognizes Abraham before this promise, and not after it. I am not trying to compare Abraham and Shylock as if they're the same person. I am just trying to take into consideration the accountability of faith before God.
Maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion, but it is something to think about. If Shylock were a faithful Jew, that would be a different story, but he's not. He's absolutely hypocritical.
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