Re: No Problem...
Submitted by Chris on September 26 1999 at 18:31:53
In reply to If We Are To Believe The Whole Bible… Submitted by Andy on September 26 1999 at 14:50:34
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Hi Andy, You asked," If we are to believe the whole Bible, then what are we to do with these scriptures?" And then you listed a number of quotes from Proverbs and one from Psalms. I looked these up and looked up one of my own and I think I can show you how this presents no difficulty in trusting and believing in God's word. Actually, I think you have proven this yourself but do not know it. Andy, first of all, I would like to take a closer look at the qoute from Psalms. It is a well-known verse: "Even though I walk through the vally of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4 Whom is the author refering to when he says "you" and "your"? Of course, he is refering to the Lord, as we can see in the first verse of that chapter: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." Psalm 23:1 In fact, this entire chapter of Psalms is reffering to the Lord, and the relationship He and the author have with one another. So, if we see that this refer's to the Lord when it talks about,"your rod and your staff, they comfort me." then I must ask you this question. Do you believe that the author (whom I think was David) was talking about the Lord God being actually, physically present in bodily form so that he could use an actual, physical rod or staff to provide comfort for the author. I hope not. Because if he did, then this might also lead us to take this scripture literally as well: "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell" Mathew 5:29-30 And I really don't think that Jesus was expecting us to take Him literally, do you? If He was, then every single Christian walking around would have only one hand and one eye. Because I'm sure that there is probably no Christian, ever, who can honestly say that his eye or his hand NEVER caused him to sin. I don't think it was Jesus' intention to have all of his followers mutilate thier bodies; just like I do not think David was actually, physically comforted or protected by an actual, physical rod or staff held by or Lord in the flesh, here on earth, with him. I am certain that both David and Jesus meant thier statements to be taken in more of a broader, figurative way. And so I believe the same to be true of the qoutes from Proverbs. I believe that it is inconsistant with the message of forgiveness and love, non-violence and pacifity, of scripture (particularly scripture of the New Testiment), to believe that God wants us to take an actual rod to our children and literally "beat him" with it, Prv 23: 13 and 14. Or to "take a rod to his back" Prv 26:3. In fact, looking at Prv 26:3, do you think the Lord wants us to think of our children as fools? I doubt it, actually. Andy, God's word may seem to be full of contradictions, but I do not believe that it is. I do believe that what a lot of Christians take literally, should not be taken that way, because I don't believe that God intended us to take them that way. Correction and punishment of children does not have to take the form of physical violence upon thier person, there are way too many other, more effective, ways of dealing with them. This is my argument against corporal punishment. Love, Your Friend and Brother in Christ, Chris |