Subject:
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Re: The Brick Testament: A Family Stoned and a City Massacred
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 10 Sep 2004 21:52:49 GMT
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Viewed:
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1877 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
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Just because the OT is written in plain English doesn’t necessarily mean
that it will be plainly understood IMO.
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Any God who would be so deliberately vague (which is to say deceptive
(which is to say evil)) as to prevent easy comprehension of the correct
meaning of his One Word on Earth is unworthy of my worship.
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That is why Jesus summed it up nicely into: “Love God with all of your heart,
soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
That’s all you really need to know and do.
But I think you are being a little disingenuous WRT to worshipping a God. If
you could describe an ideal God whom to worship, what would He be like? I have
an idea what you will say, but I want to hear about the God of Dave!
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So any criticism of the bible is a joke?
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No, I said historical, literary, etc criticisms are good and help clarify
the Bible. Criticism not intended for deepening understanding is either
malicious or mockery or both.
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Do you accept that the examination of contradictions, shortcomings, and
textual inconsistencies qualifies as “deepening understanding?”
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Absolutely.
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Surely you
must recognize that an honest reader can criticize the bible in these terms
without mocking the work?
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Of course. And I even understand that my personal understanding of the Bible
might even be considered heretical by some fellow Christians.
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Just because some adherents don’t care for the result of honest critical
inquiry, that doesn’t mean that such criticism is malicious.
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Agreed. But it can be insensitive, among other things. It all depends upon how
it is used. There are many who believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of
God. Fine. They haven’t studied it very closely, but so what? That stuff
really doesn’t matter in my mind. You can believe the sky is yellow (or that
God doesn’t exist), but as long as you respect others and are a good person,
what’s the big, ahem, deal? God is much more interested in how we treat each
other WAAAY more than what we believe IMO.
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I don’t think it perverts the bible at
all - it just tells the stories told within. I think people find it
interesting because it makes many of the stories easier to comprehend.
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Comprehend? Or easier to read/access, because they are too lazy or wouldn’t
bother to actually open the Bible to find the stories themselves. It’s like
a comic book version of the Bible, but with the cartoonist being an atheist.
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Well, don’t assume that an atheist will automatically mock the bible. I may
not believe that the book was inspired by a deity, but a secure believer
should hardly consider a differing viewpoint to be mocking.
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Hmmm. Most atheists I know have a pretty condescending attitude towards
religion.
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Frankly, for
Christians, the action mostly occurs in the Gospels of the NT. The OT is
considered important, but more as a history of the relationship of God and
People of God, the Israelites. There isn’t much in Leviticus to which a
Christian (or any Westerner) can relate. Though Leviticus and Song of
Solomon are a part of the Christian Bible, they certainly don’t carry the
importance of a Gospel, or even a Pauline epistle. This is not any set
policy, just my observations to which I bet many Christians would agree.
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Leviticus is still commonly invoked to condemn homosexuality or excesses of
alcohol consumptions. I note with interest once again that condemnations of
shellfish consumption are less common, as are entreaties not to touch
menstruating women. Hmm...
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Look, just because one is a Christian doesn’t mean that they are necessarily
clear thinkers. There is great confusion among Christians WRT to understanding
the OT in context of the NT.
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And the Lord said, Thou Shalt pick and choose which parts of My Word be
valid, as dictated by convenience and political efficacy.
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‘O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine
enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy.’
JOHN
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