A brand new posting on one of Crystal's postings from back in March. commenting on Acts 5:1-11 -- Ananias and Sapphira.
They leave an email -- its up to anyone to email if necessary -- but I'm willing to bet the exchange won't be all that productive.
What I find interesting is the line -- if you can't believe all of it your can't any of it. I really would like to know where that comes from. It holds scripture up to a standard that nothing else on this planet is capable of living up to -- including scripture itself.
5 comments:
Hi David. Someone commenting on an old post of mine?
It's interesting, because those very questions, - can you take some parts of the bible, and ignaor others, and how can you make the decision of which is which - came up at another blog I visit.
They were discussing Romans and the issues were slavery and homosexuality
Can one be a cafeteria christian? Interesting question :-)
I believe the bible and our tradition(s) is/are so vast so complicated so historically conditioned -- that it is impossible to NOT be a "cafeteria Christian". Those who claim not to be are delusional. And generally trying to impose their fragment of the faith on everyone else.
So the real question: how do we be cafeteria Christians with integrity and faithfulness to God's call for us?
Conscience. A commitment to growth in the truth. An acceptance we may be wrong. And Jesus' Law of Love.
Well said, David. The truth is virtually no one knows more than a tiny fraction of the Bible, and of course peoples' understanding of the Bible hinges on that portion of the Bible that they know, which they mistakenly believe is the whole.
In my Bible class in seminary a young ignoramus said that if Jonah was really swallowed up by a big fish, then there was no basis for his faith.
This idea stems from the emphatic insistence of 'jackleg' preachers that every word of the Bible is 'true', and by true they usually mean historically factually true, but most of it isn't historical or factual but metaphorical, poetic, subjective. To that you must apply you own intellect.
Well I didn't mean to rant.
I love it when you rant, dear Larry. Do it more.
Re: cafeteria Christian... I agree with David - we all are. When we read the text and allow it to speak to us individually, as Larry suggested, the scriptures may begin to vibrate with life, they may begin living in us. The words may be heard freshly, dynamically, always changing in meaning for us. As we deepen our understanding, we apply the meaning to our lives in this momment. However, there are certainly other portions that just don't seem to speak to us individually at all. I don't see this so much as ignoring, as just not resonating for the indivdual at this time. This is a very vibrant quality of scripture - and likely why it is scripture, because, like God, the message touches so many people simultaneously, but never in the exact same manner.
Hi, I found you folks through a google search of something or other that I can't remember anymore. I like what you are reading and what you have to say. "Cafeteria Christians" is a funny term that could only have been devised by someone laboring(and you really would have to labor) under the delusion that biblical scripture is an integrated, harmonic set of writings and doctrines. Try sitting down and reading oh say, Ezekiel followed by Matt 5-7...if you don't catch a serious case of cognitive dissonance then something is clearly amiss...Sure, OT vs. NT, but is this even the same god here, or was Ezekiel talking to Odin?
Anyhoo, I'll keep lurking and thanks for putting this up!
Tom
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