On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 22:35:38 GMT, Don Tuite
wrote:

Testing a hypothesis is what got Moses' ass in trouble -- whacking the
rock with his stick, when the Big Guy had just told him to order it
verbally to gush water. No Promised Land for poor Moe.

One: Moses was on face-to-face speaking terms with God. There is
enough in the text of the pentateuch to suggest that the God he saw
looked human in form. ("Moses spoke to God face to face." "I'll show
you my back parts only", and so forth. I'll look it all up if anyone
cares.)

Whacking the rock was not scientific inquiry; the guy had been through
bringing down seven plagues, lifting up his arms to keep his side on
the winning side of a battle, parting (or drying up, you take your
pick) the Red (Reed) Sea. Conversing with a bush. He had a consistent
picture of God. No need for Moe to have faith; he'd been through the
fire already, so to speak. He knew. And then did the wrong thing
anyway.

In my church, we hold this story up as a lesson in *pride*, not faith.

Thus is Faith defined in Exodus.

Two: You're using what you commonly hold as an untrue myth to bolster
a point about faith. How that supports your point, when the premise is
to reject the book altogether and out of hand, sits a bit beyond me.

Rob