No errors when accurately read
The rants of Mr. Chito Germino on Bible verses are all based on his own personal reading of the Bible for almost four decades. While I respect his views, whenever his conclusions are inaccurate, or possibly dangerous, I must speak up.
His latest rant was about “biblical inaccuracies.” To him, the Bible must be corrected because of alleged discrepancies like Exodus 4. In that chapter, God ordered Moses to return to Egypt. On the way there, the Lord tried to kill Moses (Ex. 4:24). God is not acting unstable here, the key is in the next verses. Zipporah, Moses’ wife, circumcised their son. “Because of the rite of circumcision she said, ‘You are a husband of blood to me.’ And so the Lord spared Moses’ life.” (Ex. 4:26)
The rite of circumcision was a direct command of God to all Israelites: “You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you.” (Genesis 17:10) So Moses must have left his son uncircumcised and therefore disobeyed God. His wife saved him from punishment by quickly circumcising their son.
With regards to 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1, these two chapters do tell the same story from two different perspectives. The Books of Samuel are straightforward historical accounts of the monarchy in Israel. The Books of Chronicles are a retelling of the same story as 1 and 2 Samuel, and Kings, with a special emphasis on spirituality and the worship of God.
Let us take a closer look: 2 Samuel 24:1 specifies that “on another occasion the Lord was angry with Israel..” The reason why, we do not know. Maybe it could be David’s previous adultery or a sin by the entire nation. What we do know is God permitted that David would fall into sin. Note here “permit.” He knows it would happen, but God did not prevent it from happening because He knows how to derive a greater good from misfortune.
In the 1 Chronicles account, it specifically shows how Satan was permitted to tempt David to take the census. Why that census was sinful is not stated in the text. But scholars agree that it could be because of pride; knowing the vast number of his subjects might raise David’s ego. A census in the ancient world could also mean drafting more soldiers to war out of hunger for power.
From these two incidents in the Old Testament, we see that despite of human disobedience, God sees us through. Moses went on to lead Israel out of slavery, and David immediately started the building of the temple after being punished for the census. This why we must ask the Church’s help to see the bigger picture when interpreting a passage. After all, don’t we know “that in all things God works for good with those who love Him..”? (Romans 8:28) --
Interesting rematch
If Rep. Gwen Garcia runs for governor in 2019 against Gov. Junjun Davide, it would be their second matchup. Davide lost the first time. Will Gwen fare better than her brothers this time? Davide had defeated Pablo John and Winston. That’s what would make it interesting.--