In this page we take the view that what God communicated (presented, revealed) is for all humankind, not for experts only, not only for religious people, or those 'in the know', not only for those of a Judeo-Christian-Muslim culture - but for everyone in the world, across all cultures and all ages in history. This view comes, circularly it is admitted, from what God has presented, but it also makes a load of common sense: because he wants the whole cosmos to be saved and blessed, he would present stuff relevant to the whole cosmos. (There is always circularity in understanding. Especially, there is an iterative nature to understanding God - read, come to an understanding of the whole, then re-read in the light of this understanding - and this is what I have tried to set out here.) Knowing this affects our expectations of Scripture and the way we interpret and understand it. Of course, his revelation is also for experts too; nobody can ever plumb the depths of it fully.
God's revelation was progressive throughout human history. So I also present the topics arranged in chronological order, or at least approximately so. The stages are: the early days, the time of the patriarchs, the time of early Israel, Israel's settled state, the time of the prophets, the time of the Messiah, since the Messiah returned.
(Is that dispensationalism? No, because though the cultural application of what communicated is relevant only to that culture, the basic trans-cultural things that he communicated are for all time and all cultures. It is such topics that we wish to discern and include in this work. We might, of course, have made mistakes in such discerning; please can somebody else do it better.)
The list is under construction. Things are missing, things are in it that should not be, and some things must be changed. But it is offered as a start. If you like it, or think it has some potential, please let me know. Thanks. '====' indicates a note to myself of something to add or change later.
General
About God's gifts/resources to us
Unplaced:
About Our Destiny, and that of Creation
Topics that Seem to be Missing
Copyright (c) Andrew Basden 2000. Comments and queries are very welcome.
Page last updated: 24 May 1998: Rearranged the sections on God being dependable, not predictable, not slot machine, and surprises. 24 May 1998: Added section on land.care. 6 June 1999 since then I added more things but did not record them here; today I just got all bits ready for uploading in an unfinished state. 9 September 1999 removed 'to add' to another file. 2 November 1999 added 'division', 'comfortable words' and 'God's context-bound message', 'messiah' sections, and reordered some in Messiah. Added theme.destiny. 9 January 2000 added 2 lessons from C.S.Lewis. 5 February 2000 lots, in response to attending a Walk Thru The Old Testament day: rewrote 'humble', added 'glory', added 'lets.choose', and other changes. 5 February 2000: Split the details off into bhg4.html. 6 February 2000 added a few more sections, and rearranged a bit, in response to making up bhg.wtb. 13 February 2000 Slow to chide, Symbols. 15 February 2000 added counter. 20 February 2000 added God employs unworthy people, added 'Pride' to the nature of the rift. 28 May 2000 New section 'honesty'. Moved dependence to early Israel, merged with loving.dep. 11 June 2000. Started splitting bhg4 up into bhgl... 2 July 2000 continued that. 16 July 2000 replaced 'like.Christ' by 'should.seek', and reordered things there; corrected links. 23 July 2000 added 'God works via selected people'. 13,20 August 2000 'Not Man, But God' and 'Man Like God' added. 15 October 2000 Intro rewritten; legalism and purpose.of.law and imptce.of.law added. 25 October 2000 Dignity of Suffering, Revival. 10 December 2000 Replaced 'need messiah' by 'need saviour', and added 'messiah-surprises'. Removed auto mailer to prevent junk mail. 7 February 2001 email and contact. 11 March 2001 a link corrected, better spacing. 7 April 2001 links to bhg5 (missings), corected link. 31 May 2001 new link 'Seriousness of wrong-doing'; others in israel reordered. 17 June 2001 Worship Not Important added, some themes reordered. 26 June 2001 'in.us' links added. 17 February 2002 added new link: God's law not absolute. 14 July 2002 moved intro text to bhg2.html, and rearranged order so that thematic contents precedes chronological contents list. 1 August 2002 revelation for everyone. Also belatedly added 'God is Person'. 2 August 2002 links to grace of God put in thematics. New link to use.of.power. 3 August 2002 Victory moved to before lets.choose; slow-to-chide augmented with Patient; two more themes: God intervenes, and God intervenes with mercy. 6 August 2002 new section God not threatened. 1 September 2002 God is Holy; some reordered. 22 September 2002 Knuth quote and small changes to Intro. 5 October 2002 Two new links in ad: evangelism and culture. 6 October 2002 More links to What God Values. 10 October 2002 some links rearranged. 11 April 2004 misunderstand. 3 February 2007 unet. 31 March 2011 Understanding God challenging. 19 October 2014 stewards heading repl by rep God, and Man Like God is Being Like God.
To add: