Why is it ok to stereotype or generalize the "religious"?

Discussion in 'Spirituality & Religion' started by #10 Jersey, Feb 7, 2006.

  1. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    Exactly. Paul was giving specific advise to specific people in a specific time period. This advice is not God's instructions. This advise is not a pathway to salvation. Jesus alone offered that.
     
  2. christopher d

    christopher d New Member

    Jun 11, 2002
    Weehawken, NJ
    Bravo.

    That said, even for his time/place, Paul had his own agenda / own concept of what was best for entire city-states of believers in mind when composing his letters.

    A fun compare and contrast on a love/preachiness continuum would be letters from John the Evangelist. I've no time for such a thing today. I'm halfway out the dizzle as it is. Anyone have a Bible handy?
     
  3. NoodlesMacintosh

    NoodlesMacintosh New Member

    Aug 24, 2004
    Salt Lake City
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If he spoke bestowed with God's authority it is.
     
  4. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    Paul met Jesus. Jesus told him stuff. Paul passed it on.

    Bravo.
     
  5. christopher d

    christopher d New Member

    Jun 11, 2002
    Weehawken, NJ
    Like what? "Step off of my nuts" (KJV) and "Get thee to an opthamologist"? Other than that, the deal in Acts 9 is "Paul's going to take my (God's) message to the Gentiles". Doesn't say anything about him making up a whole new set of Mitzvos (and yes, knowing that Paul was a Pharisee, I used that word deliberately) for those pagans. It talks about the message of Christ -- those nasty "love one another" bits that get overlooked in the race to see who may sleep with whom without getting a visit from a stray lightening bolt.
     
  6. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    what are you on about? do you have any sense of what Paul did in Arabia for umpteen weeks? count camels and needles' eyes, or something more akin to processing the revelation(s) given to him by Jesus.

    how about his visit to "the third heaven". you think he got a glimpse into something more heady than harps and cherubim?

    i know it's dangerous to speculate, but when Paul says, "not I, but the Lord", (1 Cor. 7:10), it would mean to most people that he is privy to direct communication with/from God, and what he says has the authority of God's word. he, a couple of verses later, makes the distinction, saying "I, not the Lord", which makes clear that he is willing to differentiate between what is his personal point of view and what has been dictated to him.

    and about the "who may sleep with whom" part: the OT is pretty clear on this subject. Jesus didn't tell us that the OT is null and void, did he?
     
  7. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    Jesus told Paul that women should cover their heads and not talk while in church?
     
  8. GringoTex

    GringoTex Member

    Aug 22, 2001
    1301 miles de Texas
    Club:
    Tottenham Hotspur FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Bolivia
    Actually, he did. Jesus gives one path to salvation, and it's nowhere to be found in the OT. Practically speaking for a Christian, the Old Testament is useless.
     
  9. HerthaBerwyn

    HerthaBerwyn Member+

    May 24, 2003
    Chicago
    There are plenty of Old Testament Christians. They are running our country. They are all about Vengeful Dieties, not turning the other cheek. Damn them all. These are the kind of people who would put a needle through the eye of a camel.
     
  10. christopher d

    christopher d New Member

    Jun 11, 2002
    Weehawken, NJ
    Just thought this would make a nice "last word" in this thread.
     
  11. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    what about his statement that he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it?

    and his statement "till heaven and earth pass (away), not one iota or point of the law shall pass (away)"?

    but salvation is found in faith: witness Hebrews 11.
     
  12. Kim-GoBeat!

    Kim-GoBeat! New Member

    Jun 21, 2001
    Thugsville, USA

    It's been like a decade or longer since I was in church, but I do remember a part of the scriptures where Jesus approaches a young man and tests his faith. The young man answers that he has kept the commandments and the law since he was a young child... Jesus anwered, "I am the law."

    I always considered the O.T. to be nothing more than a history book and the teachings in the N.T. to be the part we are supose to base our lives on... not that I'm doing that at the moment... but that is how I interpret it.
     
  13. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    i think you're confusing the Bible with the movie, Judge Dredd.
     
  14. #10 Jersey

    #10 Jersey Member

    May 2, 1999
    On what do you base your comment that the OT is nothing more than a history book?
     
  15. Kim-GoBeat!

    Kim-GoBeat! New Member

    Jun 21, 2001
    Thugsville, USA

    My opinion. It's our God given right, isn't it? If you reread it, you will see I said "I always considered the OT a history book"... that's a comment obviously based on opinion. Besides what makes you think it isn't like a history book? It's about the past isn't it? That's the great thing about religion. What works for me, works for me... it doesn't have to work for you... ya know? I was raised in a very strict Southern Baptist environment... Most (keep in mind I didn't say ALL) were so judgemental, narrow-minded and had this moral superiority complex going own that they couldn't reach people because they'd have to drag them over their own religious ego. It was quite sad, acutally. They were missing the forest for the trees. I will never take the Bible, religion or God quite so literally. What I will do is love people and accept them for who they are be them atheist, homosexual, white, black, brown, yellow, Cathloic, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. I may not always agree with them, but I can respect them for who they are and know that it isn't my place to make them into something else. I think if we do nothing more than pattern our lives after Jesus and deal with people the way he did... we will have lead a good life indeed. That is why I choose to concentrate more on the N.T.

    Does that answer your question? I have a tendency to ramble, but hopefully the answer is in there somewhere!! =)
     
  16. Kim-GoBeat!

    Kim-GoBeat! New Member

    Jun 21, 2001
    Thugsville, USA

    LOL! Good one! Yeesh...I guess I'm going to have to look it up, eh? If I can't find it online...I'll look for the scripture later as soon as I find what i did with my Bible. I'm at work now (I work two full time jobs)... I will find it, but it may take a while.
     
  17. argentine soccer fan

    Staff Member

    Jan 18, 2001
    San Francisco Bay Area
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Right. I recall there is a letter of Paul in the Bible in which he advices men not to get married. Then he qualifies it by saying that it is his personal advice, not a command from the Lord.

    Based on that, I think even people who believe the Bible to be God's inspired word, have to realize that much that is said there is the opinion of the human author, based on his own experiences, personal and cultural. Paul himself says it clearly.
     
  18. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    i think i would take issue with your notion that "much" is personal opinion, but certainly "some" is.
     
  19. dj43

    dj43 New Member

    Aug 9, 2002
    Nor Cal
    What Paul is saying here is that if one has fully dedicated their life to The Great Commission, spreading the Good News to all the world, there may not be time for a marriage. But he goes on to cite examples of men who HAVE been married (Barnabas for one) and did great work. In his conclusion he leaves the judgement up to the individual. He obviously is not speaking as God-inspired but he in accordance with canonical Scripture.

    What he is doing here is 2-part; affirming the premier importance of the Commission and at the same time, the importance of the sacred vow of marriage.

    In the Jewish tradition of the time, marriage was important, however, there were very pious Jews, the Quram community, for example, which took a vow of celibacy to affirm their faith, and were highly respected for it.
     
  20. Kim-GoBeat!

    Kim-GoBeat! New Member

    Jun 21, 2001
    Thugsville, USA
    You're a real stickler aren't you? Not "much" room for personal opinion and thinking outside the box. No matter how much "some" people would like for religion and politics...and life for that matter, to be black and white, everything is much more comparative to a world of gray. While I hold a few convictions quite tightly, I mostly hold loosely to the fine details because there is a lot of room for interpretation and opinion. We could all be very wrong. That is why I don't take the Bible quite so literally... it's been interpreted from one language to another, several times over by many different people... Lots of room for getting it not so right. I think the Bible is a good guideline as to how we should live... you could do worst than pattern you life after the scriptures!
     
  21. dj43

    dj43 New Member

    Aug 9, 2002
    Nor Cal
    Your last phrase is spot on!!!

    As to the idea that much has been lost in translations, etc., I would suggest you read Noah Elliot's post toward the end of the Judas gospel thread. He hit that one out of the park.
     
  22. royalstilton

    royalstilton Member

    Aug 2, 2004
    SoCal
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ---
    i take it that word choice is a matter of choice and of no small importance, so that makes me a stickler. Jesus was a stickler, too, in his own way. he only did what his Father told him, no more, no less.
     
  23. Dan Loney

    Dan Loney BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 10, 2000
    Cincilluminati
    Club:
    Los Angeles Sol
    Nat'l Team:
    Philippines
    Jesus : Paul :: Old Major : Napoleon

    EDIT - Hey, I live my life by the Scriptures. Just last week, I stoned a guy to death for eating a cheeseburger.
     
  24. flowergirl

    flowergirl Member+

    Aug 11, 2004
    panama city, FL
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i'm guessing it was last Friday...
     
  25. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I believe he's referring to the prohibition against mixing dairy and meat, which I think is from Leviticus. There's no scriptural basis for stoning someone who doesn't fast on Fridays during lent.
     

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