David R. Larson

David R. Larson May 30, 2026 Leviticus 16 in the Bible pictures a priest in ancient Israel placing his hands on a living goat's head in order to ceremoniously "transfer" to it the sins of the people.  It was then led into the wilderness and abandoned.   Many Christians have pictured the "scapegoat" as a symbol of Jesus Christ and others have seen it as a symbol of Satan  Many Seventh-day Adventists are among those have symbolized it as Satan. It is important to note that the denomination's official "Twenty-eight Fundamental Beliefs" do not say a single word about this issue.  Also, the suggestion that this view is widespread among Seventh-day Adventists all around the world is based upon local anecdotal evidence rather than global stastistcal evidence. Saying that SDAs believe that the scapegoat symbolizes Satan is a bit of a stretch.  

David R. Larson May 27, 2026 1. Unlike the an cient Greeks such as Plato and Aristotle, the ancient Hebrews did not write plays and treatises, T hey expressed their views in stories, poems, witticisms and the words and deeds of prophets. This is why people call what they said and wrote "narrative theology." 2. They did not say and write these things to entertain. They did so to address issues people were experiencing in their everyday lives. 3. We can make an educated guess as to what issue a story addresses even if we aren't specialists in Biblical scholarship by asking a simple question: "If this is the solution, what is the problem?" 4. We should not approach the story with our issue in mind. We should approach it with their issue in mind. It is always the case, though, that their issue turns out to be an issue for us as well even though it might be a different issue for us than the one we anticipated. 5. The stories they told typically had one mess...