-Caveat Lector-
Alamaine Ratliff wrote:
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> My real point about the Abraham passages is: They seem to be inconsistent
> (in both cases "Abraham's descendants"). I understand what the Nazarene
> was getting at by way of explanation to the descendants of Abraham. They
> seemed a little unsure.
>
> The first passage (Matt) deals with public displays of churchiness ...
> 'slavery' to what others' (peers') opinions of any one's abilities to
> demonstrate 'holiness' for said 'peers'. This may be seen in the current
> context of being a 'slave' to fashion or keeping up with the Jones' -- in
> any event worrying about those things for which the reward(s) are derived
> from mere mortals rather than from the divine. I, for one, am more
> impressed (coincidient with the passage) with those who maintain an inner
> sense (innocence?) about their faith rather than those trying to hammer
> THEIR interpretation of same into everyone else. One size does not fit all.
However, there is only ONE correct interpretation of any written passage... and
that is what the writer had in mind when he wrote it... The trick is to determine
what that was... and this is best done by following rules of hermaneutics (a field
of study of which you admit you have no experience).
> I think the whole issue (slavery) can be summed up by pointing out that
> what happened in the South or in the Middle East during their respective
> times must be taken in context of THE TIMES. Used to be littering (to use
> an example from a different extreme) was okay. Times changed. Used to be
> going out in the woods and cutting a winter's worth of firewood was okay.
> Times changed. However, when speaking with those for whom these kinds of
> things may have been okay, their impressions are based on the context of
> THEIR times. Fast forward back to today.
>
> When we look at the past with a 1999 lens, there are all sorts of things
> that look average. Or better. Or worse. "The good ol' days." Beyond the
> truths contained in ANY religious treatise/test/whathaveyou, the benefits
> of having lived in a more idyllic time, I view such things as products of
> their times and must therefore look at who was doing what with whom for
> what reason and so forth. Because the Europeans may have had compelling
> reasons for adopting a Middle Eastern faith system, those reasons should be
> examined and thereby applied to what their perceptions were, rightness or
> wrongness of their actions -- what they, themselves did -- are something I
> can't do a thing about. A modern day person's acceptance of said faith
> system should be much different than a person of antiquity's (tradition vs
> inquisition, e.g.). Similarly, what passed for human bondage in one
> Southern state may have been different in another, or from locus of
> commerce to locus of commerce. What ensued as far as resolution of the
> problem itself would, in like fashion, be equally unacceptable in today's
> world. Can anyone conceive of being asked to go to war to solve a social
> issue in the U.S. -- today? Is Kathy Lee mustering troops to go free the
> sweat shop denizens? Does anyone recall the times the police and the Guard
> and others have been called out to put down if not prevent uprisings -- in
> our time? I can and Neil Young made a mint off a song therefrom.
I can see it happening in "our times," and I think I will see it happening,
perhaps within the next six months... In fact, I saw it happening after a fashion
in the aftermath of the great Rodney King incident (that great American
philosopher and motorist) in Los Angeles. However, I will admit you were "on a
roll" above, and exhiting some evidence of actual thought processes. I
congratulate you on rising above mere name-calling.
Hawk
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