rhutchin

Sounds like someone is taking Scripture out of context to create a straw man that they can then rail about.

Doug Shaver

I'll have to remember that next time someone tells me I should believe something just because it says so in the Bible.

striderlives

Why is it that when something Jesus commands is onerous or unpalatable you guys always decide it's out of context?

Jesus is asked a direct question - 'how are we saved?'. His direct answer is "believe, be baptised, and sell all of your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor".

Do you believe Jesus, or Paul, or some other writer?

kcdad

I Am a Christian who, just like people like Thomas Jefferson, does not believe in anything supernatural. I do not believe in any "personal" deity.

There are actually a lot of people who call themselves Christian Atheists.

kcdad

Do you remember what Jesus said to the hypocrite about the splinter and the plank?

Do you remember what Jesus said to Priests and Pharisees when they tried to trap him with rhetorical questions?

Here is my answer: That you would even ask that question of me, indicates some deep seated doubt in your own mind about the commands of our Lord Jesus. You presume that I have not given away or sold "everything" that I own.

Of course, my specific answer is irrelevant because if I say I
have you will call me a liar and if I say I have not you will call me a hypocrite... either way, the "truth" of how I live my life in this American "empire" becomes obscured by your rhetorical assault.

let me ask you the same question and see what you suggest is the baseline for such an answer....

"Have you given away all your possessions?? Do you follow the commands of your savior - or do you reject them in favor of an easier road offered by a lesser authority?"

Kasper

God never told Moses that Joseph and Mary had to go to Egypt to prevent Jesus from being sleughtered by Herod.

Maybe. But instead of guessing this and that, why don't you stick to what's written in the book we are discussing? As I told you before, Luke tells us about the cleansing and sacrifice rituals Joseph and Mary had to do after Jesus was born. After that was done, he tells us that after they had done the stuff commanded by God (the stuff he already mentioned), they went to Galilee. Not egypt. Galilee.

Well, using your own argument, then why should Luke bother to write a gospel in the first place? Anyway, these guessing games of why people living 1900 years ago would or would not do this and that is getting rather boring. Can you present any evidence for your arguments or is this discussion just a waste of time?

rhutchin

I agree.

How do you know that Luke meant to limit the statement, "...when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord..." to just those actions which he described. He could have named a few things and then included any other requirements in that phrase. He may have viewed the command to go to Egypt as one of those things.

Given your lack of evidence to show what Luke intended, I don't see that you can resolve this to mean what you want it to mean.

rhutchin

Christian Atheist is an obvious oxymoron.

rhutchin

Yep, this definitely sounds like someone taking Scripture out of context to create a straw man that they can then rail about.

Maybe you can put all this into context with the situation Jesus was addressing when he said this. Or perhaps you have some motive for leaving out the context??

rhutchin

:huh: