# Are there any culturally controversial teachings in the New Testament? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481 "2007-03-03T23:32:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481/41 "2007-03-07T03:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] Ooh, now you have to give examples. [/QUOTE] Well, you often see parts of 1 Corinthians cited (as we saw upthread.) Personally, I think it’s a question of how you read it. I am not saying that 1 Corinthians is not Pauline, just that he was writing to a specific church dealing with a specific set of issues and what we have now is copies of mail that’s more than 1900 years old. And we don’t even have what the churches were writing to Paul, just what Paul wrote back. I consider the deutero Pauline epistles to be Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus. (Basically, I trust contemporary scholarship, not that I have the expertise to make an actual decision on the texts themselves.) I think most of what I’m thinking of here about criticism of what Paul supposedly thought about the role of women in the church is in 1 Timothy. > [@1 Timothy 2:9-15 NRSV](#): > > 9 also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11 Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. 12 I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481/42 "2007-03-07T05:54:49Z")
The classic example of what the OP raises is Jesus and the fig tree, which he curses for not bearing fruit out of season. See, e.g., Mark 11:13. WTF? As for things which no longer fit our culture, Paul’s treatments of slavery and women, already mentioned, are pretty big. But the one I like most is the Sermon on the Plain, Luke, chapter 6 (RSV) (to similar effect, see Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5 to 7): > [@](#): > > 27: But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28: bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29: To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30: Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. 31: And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. 32: "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33: And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34: And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37: "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38: give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back. I have known a few Christians who live by these precepts, but very few. And I wonder how many red state fundamentalists understand how at odds with these teachings is, for example, the war in Iraq. As the bumper sticker says, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481/43 "2007-03-07T06:42:49Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] The entire thing is controversial for non-Christians. The whole premise of the book is that one should blindly believe something for which there is no evidence. If it were written today, you would pretty much laugh in the author’s face. As for controversial teachings: _Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you._ Except, you know, if they should bite or sting or stab or shoot you, or for that matter burn or rape you. Yeah, you’re pretty much safe. Trust me, what could possibly go wrong? [/QUOTE] That passage refers specifically to a particular group of disciples, not Christians generally, if you give it a literal reading. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481/44 "2007-03-09T17:20:53Z")
[QUOTE=kanicbird] Makes a heck of a lot more sense then a fat guy in a big house flying around in a private jet telling us to cut down on our fuel consumption or the world will end. [/QUOTE] So is this like those guys you hear about building a boat in the basement, but then when they’re done they can’t get the boat out because it’s too big, or did he build the house outside the jet in pieces and then reassemble inside. Oooh! Maybe it’s like a ship in a bottle, and the house is collapsable. That Santa Claus is one clever dude. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-culturally-controversial-teachings-in-the-new-testament/394481.md?page=2)