I have noticed that some of the Evangelical Christians* here seem to obey some parts of the Bible and ignore or rationalize others. They are not the only ones to do that, but they do seem to be the only ones who consistently say that they are following the Bible or following what God says and that they take the Bible literally.
Have many Evangelical Christians here follow all of the teachings of the Bible or at least keep trying to?
For example, do you follow these instructions from Jesus? For example:
Matthew 6:6:
I took the first part of this literally when I was an adolescent and prepared a place to worship in my clothes closet! It really was kind of nice. I felt uncomfortable about praying in public, but I don’t think it was because of this verse. I was just afraid of making a fool of myself in front of friends.
Are there other directives you don’t follow?
For those of you who are not *Evangelical Christians or Conservative Christians or Fundamentalist Christians – however you wish to describe it – are there other instructions in the Bible that seem to be being ignored?
I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian household - no makeup, no TV, no radio, no Christmas, no pants for girls, women can’t cut their hair, no dancing, no drinking, no swearing, no associating with those who were not of “The Truth”. Biweekly bible studies, summer tent conventions.
AAAAAGGGHHHH!!
All members had to stand up and say something about a designated verse at each meeting…I have heard EVERY verse of the Bible described to mean X by one person, followed by another member of the church suggesting it would mean Y.
It’s a miracle I’m an agnostic, as opposed to an atheist.
Back when the KJV was translated, “closet” meant a private room–sort of like a small home office for the 16th century gentleperson. And that’s pretty much all I have to say on this…
I went to a Fundamentalist Christian school as a kid. They had the prohibitions against rock music, dancing, pants for women, and swearing, etc., but had no problems with short hair for girls, or makeup (as long as it wasn’t plastered on.)
I brought up a few times the inconsistencies that I saw. I asked one of my teachers why the prohibition on homosexual activity in the Old Testament was still valid, whereas the dietary laws were not. I got in trouble for being “difficult” and never got a straight answer.
I agree with you that there are parts to be taken literally and that other parts are symbolic or maybe even hyperbole. I’ve done quite a bit of reading and think that I have some general feeling for the laws of faith and practice. But often the individual verses, even in context, are puzzling to me. (And those that I think I understand, I don’t seem to be able to live by many times.)
How do you go about deciding which verses should be taken literally?
That’s similar to what I believe which is pretty much what NoClueBoy said – “Don’t be pompous and self-righteous.”
genie:
I’ve almost always thought that it must have had another meaning. I did take it literally as a kind, but it worked out well: When I was growing up, a clothes closet was about the only privacy I had.
Eilsel:
I wasn’t intending to be critical of anyone who takes passages literally. I’m just trying to understand how they decide which ones to follow literally. BTW, what does “plank” mean in that verse?
Blonde, I think I may know the church you are talking about. Not many require women not to cut their hair. The women members that I knew usually wore it up and it was always beautiful.
Were the people in your church respectful of their differing opinions?
Lissa, I grew up in a town of 2,000 with a church every couple of blocks. So our teachers had to tread carefully because of so many varying opinions. I’m so old that I don’t think I even knew about homosexuality when I was a kid – much less what was in the Bible about it!
BTW, Lissa, I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I like your posts and your straight-forward and pleasant way of expressing your opinions. Now I have my own thread so I can hijack it long enough to tell you that. :)[/hijack]
Zoe - the religion doesn’t have a name (other than “The Truth”, casually), and the preachers travel by twos. There is no physical church, all bible studies are held at someone’s home. My mother still attends, and I believe there’s a few thousand members across the U.S. and England. Differing opinions are not an option; I will never forget an “elder” in the church telling us we had to get rid of our stereo because it was “worldly.” The look is precisely like the Pentecostals (i.e. no makeup, women with hair up). However, they don’t meet in an official place of worship, and there’s no wailing and feeling the power sort of thing going on. (Apologies to the Pentocosts).
A whole lot of the nouveau Evangelical Christian/Religious Right/Jesus TOLD me to Vote for That Guy kinda people don’t have the vaguest notion WHAT the Bible says, so they’re not being selective, they’re being “Too concerned with the declinig moral climate propagated by the Secular Humanistic Liberal Heathen Godless…” Sorry, channeling Tom DeLay, the cigar-smoking, drinking, cussing Born Again Southern Baptist law-bending if not breaking “I AM the federal government” paragon of virtue, AKA Hot Tub Tom (from his party hearty days in the Texas House).
Just trying to reconcile the Tom DeLay of the news outta Washington and the meanness he shows to anybody and everybody that doesn’t kiss his butt with the gladhander at church.
It almost makes my head explode. Then I realize that he’s the same weasel that i’ve known since our Grandmothers made us be polite to one another in the early 60’s. Weasels being weasels, I don’t expect a lot of changes.
The same way you tell in conversational English if something is meant literally. It isn’t something I can explain to you, it’s just how I learned the language as I grew up. When I say something is cool, I don’t mean it’s below a certain temperature, I mean I like it. When somebody says “Oh my God!” they aren’t usually calling on the divine name of Yahweh, they are expressing surprise or amazement.
The bible means what it says, and it’s obvious when it’s using figures of speech or symbolism.
So the part about adulterers being smote - is that some particularly obscure figure of speech?
Leviticus 20:10
" 'If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. "
Deuteronomy 22:22
“If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.”
“There are not dietary restrictions in the NT, but homosexuality is prohibited is the NT. Hope that helps.”
Actually it’s prohibited in OT also…Genesis I recall.
Zoe: I don’t think that the purpose of “plan” was to be specifically defined. It was to be compared to the “speck” in the other person’s eye. In other words, you need to fix your own problems which are much more important/grander than another person’s. Pshew on you being critical, I thought that’s what you were doing! My apologies
