08 Feb The Bible is not a list of rules
Discount Moncler Coats Should the Bible be our ethical code of conduct at all times Discount Moncler Coats
moncler jackets toronto Take for example, the issue of slavery. Most Christians now (including me), see slavery as an institution of pure evil. Yet the Bible never condemned slavery. While the Bible moncler outlet woodbury did ask masters cheap moncler jackets to treat their moncler sale outlet slaves with respect, it did not repudiate the evil of the institution itself. In fact, Paul returned the runaway slave Onesimus to his master Philemon.Now, relate this to contemporary debates about homosexuality. This idea popped into my head and disturbed me profoundly)Edit: I think the large majority of you guys misunderstood my post. I am not trying to make claims such as is justified in the Bible I am merely using it as an example. Here is a rephrasing of my question: In contemporary discussions about Christian ethics, a common argument used to justify a moral belief is by saying moncler sale online believe in belief X because belief X is explicitly stated in the Bible However, belief Y is also moncler womens jackets explicitly stated in the Bible, when the overwhelming majority of Christians are against belief Y. I www.moncleroutletssale.com believe the Bible condemns gay people, but why doesn anyone pay attention to Philemon where Paul sent the slave back to his master? What I am trying to show is a double standard. There is a double standard when we interpret ethics from the Bible. :)Here what I think: there are two things going on with morality in the Bible: the big picture https://www.moncleroutletssale.com and a lot of little pictures.With the uk moncler outlet big picture, there is a sweeping sense of what is good and what is evil and why.What is good is summed up in the word love. Not love as in warm feelings, but love as in sacrificial concern for others over yourself. The Law of Moses, every gospel of Jesus, Paul, James, and John all say this.What is evil is the opposite of love. It harms others, or it seeks its own, or usually both. “Evil” is cheap moncler coats mens often equated with violence and unbridled pleasure seeking. And it is often both: hurting another to get what you moncler uk outlet want.What great about the Bible is it gives us a dozen little pictures, worked out best moncler jackets example problems discount moncler jackets of how this would actually work in real life. That involves matching cheap moncler jackets mens God eternal will for humans (see the big picture) with a particular situation which is informed by local moncler outlet online culture, custom, and values. It isn that morality is relative, but God people always frame it in ways that are relevant.So, to take slavery, Paul doesn end slavery. We struggle with why he doesn but there are complicating factors there for sure. At any rate, what Paul does do is infuse love into the picture: slaves are supposed to serve their masters sincerely, and masters are to be kind to their slaves treating them exactly as Christ treated them.I don care to open the can of worms that cheap moncler jackets womens is homosexuality, but I point out that whenever homosexuality comes up in the Bible, it comes up in or near a list. Every other item in that list is self evidently an example in Paul (or Moses day of violent and self interested behavior, like murder, adultery, child sacrifice, and slave trading. My sense (as a gay person) is that Paul isn talking about gay folks. Paul is talking about a behavior that in his day is manifestly evil: it is violent and selfish.In the end, I think we need to listen very closely and seriously moncler usa to God big picture about good and evil. When we move too moncler outlet store quickly to the details, we can excuse ourselves from uk moncler sale this moncler outlet sale important task. We need to reflect on what that means in the big picture for us and how we structure cheap moncler sale our lives and our societies. Jesus tells us a parable about a man judged for building a barn for all his stuff. But we rarely stop to think if my bank moncler sale account is so big that it is evil. Because that not in moncler outlet any of those famous lists. But it is at the center of God concern.Then, we need to look at all the little pictures God has included in the Old and New Testaments. We need to watch how God holds different societies feet to the fire. What does a whole society look like in the Law of Moses? Why? What about in the prophets? Why? What different? What about with Jesus? Why? What has changed and what hasn What about with Paul or with Peter or with John? What changes and what doesn of this takes a lot of work. It means reading Scripture attentively and it means reading our lives attentively. The Bible is not a list of rules. It is stories. It is worked out example problems. And we have our own problems how does God tell us to work it out?Take the often cited example of it not being loving to let a child touch a hot stove, and dutiful loving parents will tell their child: “No!” rather than let them get burnt. Well, that one thing but this is often used to justify why Christians (the dutiful loving parents) can use Scripture to judge moncler outlet prices and condemn the LGBTQ community (the toddler.) I argue it not loving to demean moncler online store or disrespect a group of people in the name of a love that doesn match 1 Cor. 13. There really no way that we could all come to terms to agree what the Bible means sufficiently to use it as an ethical code.I agree. The Bible can be bloody, gritty and includes accounts of sinners. It’s not a self help book, children’s book, or a moral guideline. That’s not it’s purpose. It primary purpose is the revelation of God to man moncler jackets toronto.