the paradox of deuteronomy 28

A must see video from Tim Keller. 47 minutes total. Notes and time/segments are as follows:

2 minutes - the 2 destinies for the human race are blessed/walking with God or cursed/destroyed. What I am commanding you is not too difficult - it is in your mouth and heart. Chose blessing and walk with God.

6.5 minutes - Deuteronomy is a "covenant renewal document" undertaken when Moses was passing on his leadership to the next generation.

8 - the curses are "ferocious" and "very fierce" - and the blessings are "astounding" and so unconditional and come with promises of so much mercy and forgiveness - it is nearly impossible to reconcile. Is God forgiving and faithful or is He vengeful and punishing?

11.5 - there is a tension, but we brought it about. We have a holy God, a God of justice. He has to punish badness, and He is full of endless mercy. This is not a contradiction. God has to punish wrongness because that is Justice - and He is so good. God also wants to love us and to be merciful to us - because He is so good.

16 - this is the "unresolved narrative tension of the Old Testament" - how does this seeming paradox get resolved?

17 - Deuteronomy 30 provides the resolution, the coming solution, with the prophetic promise that: (1) we will all fail miserable (2) but God will fix our hearts, and (3) the message will go out.

25 - Romans 2 - humans know what we "ought to" do, but we do not do it. So - we don't need more books about "how to live" what we need is the power to do what we know we should do.

28 - God will "circumcise our hearts" with a New Covenant. In the Bible - HEART means the control center of the whole person (the heart is not just emotions). "Religion is what you do with your solitude" (i.e., what your mind/heart goes to when you have nothing to do). 

32 - "The heart is the seat of what a person most loves. What the heart wants, the mind finds reasonable, the emotions find desirable, and the will finds do-able." So what your heart is set upon affects everything. So what does it mean to have a circumcised heart? God does surgery on your heart, and it is the inner love motivation be able to love God.

34.5 - The best definition of a circumcised heart is when what you want to do, and what you ought to do, is the same thing. Pleasure and duty are the same. 

38 - Colossians 2 - how we received our hearts circumcised through Jesus.