Unfortunately that distinction is not being conveyed very well to the world IMO. But I appreciate that. But we are taught that the Psalms are divinely inspired prayers by prophets. I would venture to say if you asked most Christians who wrote Psalms 137 they would say King David without even blinking. In most peoples mind every Psalm is to be revered as if it were Psalms 23.
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Perhaps, just perhaps, it is not so inexcusable for that writer - if he had seen babies killed in that manner by the Babylonians - to wish the same right back at them.
I do see your point, of course, and in fact I once got in trouble at a church meeting by saying the LAST book you want to give to a newbie is the Bible!! I still think so. That newbie needs to get rooted and grounded in love before haphazardly dipping into 4K year old writing from another place and time.
I bet that did go over like a lead balloon. But theres a lot of truth in that. Which is why they always sayā¦start with Johns gospel!
Whatever you do dont read Psalm 137. lol
No doubt that writer felt justified. As did Herod when he slew the innocents. But nobody is confused about whose actions Herods represents. This is advocacy of atrocity couched in a worship albumā¦yikes!
I can say this: If that Psalm had appeared in Jeremiah or Lamentations in the context of people not accepting Gods judgemt alaā¦heres the song they sang and the Lord WAS NOT pleased with itā¦
That would work. But as stand alone prayer and worship in psalmsā¦yuck.
No, what I said is that spiritual view is one of the layers of the message. And I gave an example of how this Psalm can be understood on that layer. I have not explained my view on other layers of the message, so you have jumped to conclusion on my complete interpretation.
This is the second rather foolish accusation you have made publicly on what I have written here. You couldāve learned something from the excerpt I posted instead.
OK so letās try to examine the spiritual layer of this song. It sounds a little Gnostic to me but Iāll bite. Whats the hidden meaning here?
You say the babies are evil thoughts and to get rid of the evil thoughts we have to dash the babies against the rocks. So dash those babies and make sure itās headfirst Because thatās where all the thoughts are.
Should we also find a spiritual layer for the slaying of Abel? How about for David committing adultery with Bath Sheba?
Or how about this instead:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil 4:8
I seem to remember that the Lord is not pleased when we called that which is evil good and called that which is good evil.
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You are again making false assumptions. Kind of perverting what I wrote.
If there is a symbolic destruction of evil, itās not a picture of Abelās death or Davidās adultery. Violent destruction of evil is being thrown into Lake of Fire, which includes Babylon the whore. Or mass killing of the Canaanites. Or stoning to death Achan and his family.
Did a stone hit you sometime? Imagine being killed by stoning, one stone after another, opening your skull as they hit you, only hearing thuds as you slowly die. Imagine itās your child who was deserving of such stoning, according to the Law. Thatās quite violent.
And itās not as if I didnāt say that we are appointed to sweat in order to understand the Bible. I am not the one who takes passages of the Bible lightly.
The issue is not banning it from the Bible, that would be reckless without some sort of historical proof itās fraudulentā¦the better approach would be to stop believing the Bible is inerrant. Sometimes the Bible speaks from a carnal human perspective. That IS the solutionā¦and it does, like in Psalm 137 for exampleā¦do we throw out stuff because we donāt like it? No, we understand this is man projecting their darkness onto God and keep it inā¦and we can look at Jesus and what He taught and how He lived to reveal what is what as per Godās decree.
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Proof of fraudulence in something that old? We donāt even know the guys name who wrote it?
In my early years the Assemblies of God Theologian Meyer Pearlman said the following regarding Ecclesiastes in āKnowing the Doctrines of the Bibleā
āWhat we have is an inspired account of uninspired utterances.ā
OKā¦sooo why do we need uninspired utterances if everybody is staking eternal souls on these words?
Yet people quote that book with divine authority. āThe dead know nothing!ā Annihilationism! LOL
Would that be like having a legal copy of an illegal document?
The problem is that when you shuffle it in with all the other legal documents, you get problems.
But truth be toldā¦your solution is the probably the most realistic. Hard to put the genie back in the bottle but maybe you can break the bottle.
Solid clear-eyed advice:
āWe do not, however, attach equal importance to all the books in this collection. Our religion, we believe, lies chiefly in the New Testament. The dispensation of Moses, compared with that of Jesus, we consider as adapted to the childhood of the human race, a preparation for a nobler system, and chiefly useful now as serving to confirm and illustrate the Christian Scriptures. Jesus Christ is the only master of Christians, and whatever he taught, either during his personal ministry, or by his inspired Apostles, we regard as of divine authority, and profess to make the rule of our lives.ā
Yeah yeah, Channing again.
Thats very reassuring and eloquent. But everything is supposed to be coming out of the mouth of God. How do we break it to the Christian world. they should not believe that?
Heres what Got Questions is feeding the masses.
It should be noted that the doctrine of infallibility concerns only the original documents. Mistranslations, printing errors, and typos are obvious human mistakes and are easily spotted, most of the time. However, what the biblical writers originally wrote was completely free from error or omission, as the Spirit superintended their task. God is truthful and perfectly reliable (John 14:6; 17:3), and so is His Word (John 17:17).
The Bible claims complete (as opposed to partial) perfection in Psalm 12:6, Psalm 19:7, Proverbs 30:5, and many other places. It is factual throughout and, in fact, judges us (rather than vice-versa), āThe word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heartā (Hebrews 4:12).
The BIBLE is claiming perfection.
That is perhaps the idea that needs to be explained? How unrealistic and unscriptural that idea is? I have sympathy for any Pastor trying to educate his people; there are so many strongholds of misinformation that need to be pulled down. I would not know how to go about it in a church setting. I think that instead of studying or reciting any Creed whatsoever, Iād have people study and recite some of Channingās approach. Of course, that would drive everyone away from the church. 
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I do believe all scripture is God breathed. But Paul did not have an authorized KJV when He said that. What God breaths gives life. When God breaths fire gets stronger. When God breathes things are moved. He leads me to what He wants me to say and as of yet in my 30+ years of preaching I have never felt led to preach on dashing babies.
Now it seems Ecclesiastes is LOL?
Do you have a list of books, chapters, stories from the Bible that you donāt accept, or are LOL, or think should be de-canonized?
Or itās only Psalm 137 and Ecclesiastes, and everything else, every verse of every other book, is God breathed?
The book of Ecclesiastes, or āthe Preacher,ā is unique in scripture. There is no other book like it, because it is the only book in the Bible that reflects a human, rather than a divine, point of view. This book is filled with error.
And yet it is wholly inspired. This may confuse some people, because many feel that inspiration is a guarantee of truth. This is not necessarily so. Inspiration merely guarantees accuracy from a particular point of view; if it is Godās point of view it is true; if it is manās point of view it may be true, and it may not. If it is the Devilās point of view it may or may not be true, as well, but the Devilās ultimate end, of course, is evil. Inspiration guarantees an accurate reflection of these various points of view.
Therefore the Bible does have much error in it. Whenever false views of men are quoted or set forth, the Bible is speaking error. Whenever Satan speaks, most of his statements are in error, and even the truth that he uses is twisted and distorted, and therefore is erroneous.
Ray Stedman
Can we just add Psalms 137 to that and be done?
Ok, so two books.
I donāt think you are giving credit to Christians. One can understand that Bible is Word of God, and that Bible, as Word of God, quotes snake saying: āYou shall not surely die.ā
One book and one small poem. Inspired records of uninspired utterances.
Iāll give you the Canaanite slaughter if you want that as trade. God ordered all the women and children and cows slaughtered. The bible says it, I believe it and that settles it. Am I solid now?
Hey, I donāt mean to jerk your chain and I apologize for any disrespect ok? I just come here and stretch a bit and see what I learn from others. I learn from you too. I appreciate your faith in Gods Word.
Itās good man, we are all seeing through glass darkly the best we can.
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Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???
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I know right?
I sure wish we still had him around to answer our questions.
And tell us how long to wear our hair. 