Shower Jim with love, not laws
Submitted by d on September 08 1999 at 11:36:57
In reply to 1 Cor 6:9 Submitted by jesus lover on September 08 1999 at 02:33:44
|
As long as Jim or anyone else doesn't beleive in Jesus, the other "reasons why he won't get into heaven" (actually, there are none) are moot and not worth debating. If you have someone in YOUR church (or perhaps any Christian) who I Cor 6:9 applies to, then you have the right and responsibility to make them aware of it and talk to them about it. But leave the non-Christians alone. Our "job" with non-Christians is to shower them with love, not laws. From www.biblegateway.com, I Cor 6:9-10: 9 RSV Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, KJV Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, DBY Do ye not know that unrighteous [persons] shall not inherit [the] kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men, YLT have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, 10 RSV nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. KJV Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. DBY nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor abusive persons, nor [the] rapacious, shall inherit [the] kingdom of God. YLT nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, the reign of God shall inherit. Clearly, there are lots of ways to translate the Greek. I wish I knew Paul and could ask him exactly what he meant when he wrote what he wrote and exactly why he chose the words he did. Reading this verse reminds me that in isolation, selected verses of the Bible can and have been used to condemn and support political positions on issues such as slavery, alchohol/temperance, sexual practices/legality-of, appropriate behavior of deacons and church leaders (including the need to stay single in some churches OR the requirement to marry in others), gender restrictions for church offices, the "appropriate role" of men, women, husbands, and wives, and a multitude of other issues. As a post-script, Heather and others have given me some pointers to Biblical scholarship which make a case that homosexual behavior in and of itself is not an offense to God. I haven't read throught these, they have been languishing on my to-do list for some weeks now. However, the fact that scholars would take such a stand is a statement that the issue is not as "obvious and clear-cut" as one might think. -David ("d") |