Continuing revelation might be like crossing the street

Traditionalist commenter The Gordian at T19 opines that "continuing revelation" supposedly cannot contradict previous revelation. But recall the “revelation” that our parents gave us when we were toddlers: Thou shalt not go in the street, ever, unless mamma or daddy holdeth thy hand. Months or years later, they gave us an additional, contradictory revelation: Thou may cross the street if thou lookest both ways first.  The difference, of course, is that our toddler selves couldn’t be trusted to respond appropriately to the later, more-nuanced revelation; as we matured, our parents eventually judged us ready for it.

Does God work that way, instructing us in different ways as our civilization matures? I don't know. What I do know is that we can't rule it out. Many traditionalists decree categorically that God would never, ever change his instructions, even if the situation — and we — were to change. That kind of presumption strikes me as being way, way above our pay grade.

Comments

[Tobias Haller]

Good analogy. In the past I've used the idea that a father who forbids his child to play in the driveway, will later at an appropriate time give that same child the car keys along with advice on seatbelts.