Westboro Church Group.

[Kheldarson]

There's lots of room for interpretation, smiley, and I think that's your issue. You assume that all Christians are Bible literalists. We're not.

Leviticus says we should kill a man for lying with another man? That's nice. Christ said he came to fulfill the law and replace it with one based off love. Further, Leviticus itself, in a historical context, was a survival guide for the Jews. We aren't Jewish so why should we follow it?

You can't take a book that floats between being a history, metaphor, law book, and prophecy and not look at context. Especially when it's God's word interpreted by a human mind.

And that's the problem with Fred Phelps and his ilk. They don't look at context. And context is always everything.

[protege]

You can't take a book that floats between being a history, metaphor, law book, and prophecy and not look at context. Especially when it's God's word interpreted by a human mind.

...and there is the problem. That book has been translated probably thousands of times over the centuries. How do we know that some racist (or homophobic) asshole didn't do some 'creative editing' to add their own hatreds? For example, the KJV has been used by various hate groups to justify all sorts of nasty things.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

Smiley, If you read Colossians 2:14 it tells us that Christ took the old law and nailed it to his cross.

[Kheldarson]

...and there is the problem. That book has been translated probably thousands of times over the centuries. How do we know that some racist (or homophobic) asshole didn't do some 'creative editing' to add their own hatreds? For example, the KJV has been used by various hate groups to justify all sorts of nasty things.

Part of why I don't like the KJV translation. I usually use the New St. Joseph. But yeah, we don't know. That's why translators constantly go back. That's why Church doctrine changes (albeit slowly) because new translations are available, and thus a better understanding. Or new context is given because we understand something of the time period better to give phrases new meaning.

Like I said, context is everything with the Bible. To ignore the context is to tread on dangerous grounds.

[AdminAssistant]

Like I said, context is everything with the Bible. To ignore the context is to tread on dangerous grounds.

Or it's all made up to serve various political purposes throughout history.

[smileyeagle1021]

Smiley, If you read Colossians 2:14 it tells us that Christ took the old law and nailed it to his cross.

And then Romans created the new law, and guess what is in it...
...
Oh yeah.

eta-

Romans 1:26-27: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence [sic] of their error which was meet."

Yup, there it is in the New Testament after Christ has fulfilled the old law, God still considers same sex attraction to be vile.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

Rome is not the authority, Christ is. Christ taught do unto others as you would have them do unto you - Luke 6:31

[Kheldarson]

Frankly, Paul (who wrote Romans) was a bit of an ass when it came to sex anyway.

And Admin, again, political motivation = context. You have to know the motive for the writing of the particular book of the Bible to understand it's passages. Even if it's politics.

[AdminAssistant]

If it's politics, then it's history. Which makes for an interesting read, and provides insight into Roman civilization in the 1st and 2nd centuries C.E. But it's not something to base your life around.

Saying Paul was 'a bit of an ass' might be the biggest understatement in the world.

[Kheldarson]

Half of the Old Testament is the Jewish history. It tells how they lived and how they're supposed to live. For them, it's something to base their life around. If we've decided that there's some worth in their lifestyle and in the preachings of a man who stepped away slightly from that lifestyle to make it gentler, what's wrong with that?

But yes, saying Paul was a bit of an ass is an understatement. Paul had...issues.

[KabeRinnaul]

Yup, there it is in the New Testament after Christ has fulfilled the old law, God still considers same sex attraction to be vile.

There is an argument that what Paul condemns in 1 Romans 1:26-27 is not homosexuality itself, but rather acts committed in the name of hedonism, pagan ritual, or prostitution.

You may find it interesting.

[SuperNat]

That doco was 'The Most Hated Family In America', right? I never wanted to throw something hard at the tv so much in my life watching that..

[bara]

I know ive said it before.. but the very best thing to do about people like them is to give them no attenion at all.

Personnaly, Im still waiting for them to protest at a hells angel funeral.

[protege]

Anyone heard the latest on these freaks? Pay attention to the part about how head freak Shirley....was using her iPhone to post comments on Twitter. Of course, she claims that the iPhone was invented by God, and *not* Jobs.

[Gravekeeper]

Of course, she claims that the iPhone was invented by God, and *not* Jobs.

Yes, well, she's so far down the rabbit hole the God she look's up too is probably Alice's knickers.