Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

[Inky_Wretch]

Speaking of Jesus and sex …

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/us/richard-hays-dead.html

 

[doctorquant]

Riddle me this: There are a lot of people in this world who claim that every word of the Bible is literally true, that there is no room for interpretation or nuance. How many of these people cut off a hand as self-imposed punishment for impure thoughts?

 

[Alma]

Riddle me this: There are a lot of people in this world who claim that every word of the Bible is literally true, that there is no room for interpretation or nuance. How many of these people cut off a hand as self-imposed punishment for impure thoughts?

None, I'm sure. But of course the idea behind the saying is the more important concept here.

Jesus is pretty popular when he says the first shall be the last and the meek will inherit the earth. Not so much when he says something that doesn't comport with a 24-year-old NYU grad's concept of what sexual relationships should look like.

 

[DanOregon]

One of the things I've really enjoyed getting back into going to church, is learning that even Catholic theologians acknowledge that the Bible is a transcribed "oral tradition." Imagine a game of "telephone" played across centuries with the narrative only transcribed hundreds of years after the "fact." It's pretty clear the bulk of the New Testament was written to "show" how much of what was prophesied in the Old Testament was "fulfilled" in the New - even if it didn't really go down that way. In fact, the writing of the Bible itself is almost as much of a fascinating story as the Bible is itself. And learning how the thing came to be - convenient passages and all - seems to make it "more real" to me, rather than some tome handed down by God. The Book of Mormon is the same deal. You can't dismiss the Book of Mormon as fake and then say the Bible is 100 percent true. The New Testament and the Book of Mormon are birds of the same feather.

 

[swingline]

I saw that "South Park" Mormon episode the other night. That's all I gots.

 

[tapintoamerica]

None, I'm sure. But of course the idea behind the saying is the more important concept here.

Jesus is pretty popular when he says the first shall be the last and the meek will inherit the earth. Not so much when he says something that doesn't comport with a 24-year-old NYU grad's concept of what sexual relationships should look like.

Sure. The concept > specs. And anybody with a brain understands that Jesus is dealing in hyperbole.
Yet ~ 1 of every 5 Americans thinks the Bible must be taken as literal truth in its entirety according to a 2022 Gallup poll. Obviously they don't really believe that. But they claim that Jonah was swallowed by a whale and dozens of other allegories. And they claim to believe it all while using the rhetoric as justification for their views on how this country should be run.
The head of Oklahoma's Department of Education wants the Bible in every classroom as a book of history and moral guidance. He believes in the inerrancy of the Bible but is apparently unable to grasp the literal meaning of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

 

[Driftwood]

Nope, the Bible is literal and historical and must be followed explicitly ... except for you know, the parts that aren't or are inconvenient.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Sure. The concept > specs. And anybody with a brain understands that Jesus is dealing in hyperbole.
Yet ~ 1 of every 5 Americans thinks the Bible must be taken as literal truth in its entirety according to a 2022 Gallup poll. Obviously they don't really believe that. But they claim that Jonah was swallowed by a whale and dozens of other allegories. And they claim to believe it all while using the rhetoric as justification for their views on how this country should be run.
The head of Oklahoma's Department of Education wants the Bible in every classroom as a book of history and moral guidance. He believes in the inerrancy of the Bible but is apparently unable to grasp the literal meaning of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Whenever I see someone complain that LGBTQ+ people are "mentally ill" because they they're ignoring biology, I'm always tempted to respond that they literally think a virgin once became pregnant without having sex.

 

[DanOregon]

Well there are countless examples of the Bible being "anti-science" - the whole Red Sea parting thing, various weather phenomena, gravity etc.

Imagine if we just took science out of the last 100 years of history, and explained it away as "God's work." Global warming, nukes, COVID, the Shuttle disaster, etc. etc.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Well there are countless examples of the Bible being "anti-science" - the whole Red Sea parting thing, various weather phenomena, gravity etc.

Imagine if we just took science out of the last 100 years of history, and explained it away as "God's work." Global warming, nukes, COVID, the Shuttle disaster, etc. etc.

Heck, there were people who thought the Wright Brothers were Satanically-inspired because God did not intend for man to fly.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

None, I'm sure. But of course the idea behind the saying is the more important concept here.

Jesus is pretty popular when he says the first shall be the last and the meek will inherit the earth. Not so much when he says something that doesn't comport with a 24-year-old NYU grad's concept of what sexual relationships should look like.

You've pointed out the splinter in their eye. What's the plank in your eye?

 

[doctorquant]

What's the big "own" here? That some people who call themselves Biblical literalists don't act as if the Bible is to be taken literally means ... what?

"Jesus taught some pretty tough sexual ethics."

"Yeah, but some people say they're to be followed to the jot and tittle and then don't do that."

"Ummmm ... so?"