[CS-FSLUG] God Didn't Say That

[Don Parris]

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 10:22:33 -0800, Ralph De Witt
<ralphdewitt at charter.net> wrote:
> On Thursday 06 January 2005 12:17 am, Eduardo Sanchez wrote:
> (snip)

> 
> In my mind simply put God's son came to earth to love, heal, and forgive. 
> 

We have to bear in mind that forgiveness only comes with repentence. 
I teach people that apologies (in the strict sense) are inappropriate
for Christians, as an apology is merely a defense - an excuse - for
our actions.  I won't comment on the commonly held view of excuses. 
There has to be confession AND repentence BEFORE the forgiveness is of
any value.

Confession, by itself, is a starting point.  It is simply an
acknowledgement of offense or wrongdoing.  Many people are willing to
confess sin.  Repentence is another matter altogether.  Repentence is
the willingness to turn away from the offensive behavior.  On the one
hand,you cannot repent of something you won't acknowledge to begin
with.   On the other hand, you can fail to repent of something you
have confessed.  Acknowledging the offensive behavior is of little
value without the commitment to refrain in the future.

Another point I would make here is related to the first point.  In the
first 11 verses of John 8, we have the woman caught in adultery. 
Jesus states He will not condemn her.  What I love about this is that
she was definitely in the wrong.  She should have been stoned.  If I
may engage in a little light-hearted speculation, Jesus may have
written in the sand, something along the lines of "it takes two to
tango".  At any rate, He also told her, "go and sin no more".

These last words strike deep in my heart.  Wow!  As if that were
possible for us mere mortals.  Well, the truth is, He expected change.
 And change is possible - but only with God.  Think "camel through eye
of needle" here.  Only God can change us.  We have to confess and
repent, then He can forgive and change us.  I have few delusions of
insta-change, but it will begin to happen.

I should hope that all of us can testify to that.  I used to be a
coward.  I have faced people threatening to shoot me for no reason at
all.  I stood my ground when a guy threatened to run me over on my
job.  I spent 6 years in the Marine Corps infantry - not much scares
me anymore.  If God can take a fella who grew up letting people do
whatever they wanted to him, and turn him into a guy who fears little
other than God, Himself, I'd say there is great hope for the
homosexual.

(Since I'm up to preach in two weeks, you guys are helping me nail
down my sermon!)

> In our Judeo-Christian society, the documents known as the Bible serve as the
> primary guide on most issues. It is interesting that many Christians take
> literally the references to homosexual acts while interpreting other text
> with great flexibility. And I some times grow weary of the flood of FUD on
> this subject and others that is produced by a single person and simply wish
> on occasion to remind the list and the world that this FUD is not the
> majority christian view. Causing fear, hatred, and division is not the
> christian ethic or way.
> --

I have already explained on a basic level some of the problems of
biblical interpretation.  Scripture clearly does condemn homosexual
behavior in both testaments.  Add to that the fact that others have
raised - extramarital sex of any kind - and one should have a clear
picture of God's expectations  This is not loose interpretation.  The
quotes on that website from the OP are among the most pathetic
examples of biblical interpretation I have seen.

Tim Butler raised some valid points about the original languages. 
Many people seem to think that Jesus spoke the King's English - even
if English had not developed that far along in His time.  Ever read
Beowolf in the Old English?  I'd love to see people read the Bible in
the English language of Jesus' day.  :)

At any rate, it is easy to distort the truth when you know that most
people don't even care about the original languages.  You can say
pretty much anything you want.  I would really recommend that you pick
up a decent book on Bible study - I mentioned a book in an earlier
post.  Take it on yourself to learn more about interpretation -
especially what constitutes good interpretation.  Then you can better
weigh for yourself what others are saying about what God said or
didn't say.

Don
-- 
DC Parris GNU Evangelist
http://matheteuo.org/
gnumathetes at gmail.com
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