Absolutely, which is why no Christian should drink blue raspberry Slurpies. Sure, Jesus didn’t talk about them, but who knows what he was preaching about when the stenographers were taking a break?
C’mon. That’s absurd, and can rationalize any obsession.
Of course. Nobody is. The argument is that too many of his modern followers are obsessed with sexuality in a way that crowds out concern about the things he’s recorded to have talked about extensively.
There is no textual evidence of his concern with sexuality. The best you can do is his, “Oh yeah, I’m not disagreeing with all that unspecified stuff” proclamations. That’s hardly something you say about something you care deeply about.
So the standard interpretation scanning a google search is respectfully telling mom that this is not the time for him to show his powers, which she is pushing him to do. But then why does he then do it any way?
That is not something I have ever heard. It seems to me that it is used pretty much the same way “servant” or “slave” is used- someone not worth mentioning by name because they are not really pertinent to the story.
Not something I have a direct cite for but AI google seems to support this, though also mentions that it does distance Jesus from Mary by not saying mother. I’ve heard Catholics claim that His use of woman was casting Mary as the new Eve.
From AI:
Cultural Context: In the ancient Middle East, addressing a female as “woman” was a standard, respectful way to address someone, even one’s mother. It was polite, though formal, and did not carry the same negative connotations as it might today.
No disrespect: Mary’s reaction suggests she did not perceive the address as dismissive or rude. She instructed the servants to do whatever Jesus said.
Theological significance: Some scholars suggest the use of “woman” has deeper meaning, possibly referring to Mary as the “Woman” in Genesis 3:15, who would give birth to the Savior.
However
Distancing and Independence: Addressing Mary as “woman” instead of “mother” might also indicate a shift in their relationship. Jesus was acknowledging his divine mission and independence from his family’s wishes, according to Christianity Stack Exchange.
Doesn’t matter. Why does a perfect god change his mind? Why is something sinful now but cool for people who talked to god directly?
As for wine, one of the few blessings I remember in Hebrew is the one for wine, no doubt because you say it a lot during a Seder. Drinking wine is not only not a sin, but is required. Note there is no blessing I know of for eating bacon. That is a sin. Oh, it isn’t, because Paul wanted to recruit a Roman who liked his prawns.
David was a man after God’s heart as a faithful poet conqueror who unified Israel, waged extensive wars, defeated their enemies, and captured Jerusalem all for the glory and purpose of God. Partying and so on seems orthogonal to his main thing, though it does bring to mind Samuel’s warning that if the Israelis wanted a king, they would get what they asked for.
Obviously, She can’t. An Omniscient God already knows everything which will happen until the end of time, including all Her own thoughts about everything which well ever happen. She also knows which of us are sinners and which are saints, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Ever.
Hopefully, if God exists, She isn’t perfectly omniscient, or it’s goodbye to free will., for us and for Her.
The way I have heard it preached, Jesus tells his mom that it’s not yet his time. Rather than argue with him, Mary then just tells the servants to do whatever Jesus ask, which kinda puts him in a bind to have to do something.
It’s often pitched as some sort of faith: Mary just acts like Jesus is going to do what she told him.
I’ve also seen it pitched as him having to obey his mom, and that the previous lines were him trying get out of it. But Mary having faith and knowing her kid would do what she asked is the more common one I heard growing up.
I had forgotten about this, and will look up other interpretations though.
I did find one interpretation: that “my hour has not yet come” refers to him not wanting to publicly perform a miracle, and that Jesus got around this by doing it in secret. The story does end with no one seeming to know where the wine came from, rather than Jesus using it as a way to start his ministry.
I feel people are wrong on the free will issue. God knowing what decisions people are going to make doesn’t mean people aren’t able to freely make those decisions.
I feel the same is true about predestination. People say that nothing a human can do can compel God to do something. That may be true. But God can set up a pathway and tell people “Those of you who follow this path will end up at this destination” and people can then choose whether or not they follow the path. This means humans are making choices but they’re not compelling God.
What I feel is a genuine issue is the discrepancy between God’s actions in Genesis and the New Testament. The narrative, from a human perspective, is that God was angry when Adam and Eve defied him so he created eternal damnation. According to some fundamentalists this happened sometime around 4000 BC. Then a few thousand years later, God felt bad about this decision so he sent/manifested as Jesus in order to give people an opportunity to avoid eternal damnation.
But God is omniscient. So wouldn’t he have already known in 4000 BC that he was going to regret the decision he was making and change things in four thousand years? And if so, why did he go ahead with the decision? Why didn’t he just immediately adopt the policy he knew he was going to eventually adopt?
My point exactly. An omniscient god already knows everything She will ever do, and everything She will ever think; so She can’t change her mind about anything.
I like to think that there are multiple possible worlds, and that we can choose between them by exerting our free will; we have infinite freedom of action, and can behave in any way we want, and every choice we make creates a new timeline. But this doesn’t give God freedom of choice; She will know everything that can ever possibly happen in every timeline; so She knows for sure that She can never change anything in any of those timelines, or Her omniscience would be faulty.
I’m not sure “choose your own adventure” religion will sell real well, being churches place loads of rules, creeds, and out and out frivolous demands on their followers.
You can’t really “choose” if rules block your way.
Then we come to babies being born with devasting handicaps or disability. They didn’t get to choose anything. Seems a bit unfair and maybe evil.
Hell, as Christians and more to it’s origins Dante, describe it appears no where in Genesis.
Cribbing from Google’s AI (which I am loath to do) this is Adam and Eve’s punishment for doing something they had absolutely no way to understand was wrong,
Expulsion from Eden: God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life and living forever in their sinful state. {Which contradicts the claim the ‘death’ entered Eden when A&E ‘’‘sinned’‘’.} Mortality: While they did not die instantly, they became mortal and were sentenced to “return to the ground” from which they were made. Hardship: God cursed the ground, requiring Adam to toil for food. He also increased the pain Eve would experience in childbirth. Separation from God: The act of disobedience caused a spiritual separation between humanity and God, which is a key concept in Christian theology.
But when do they make these decisions? God know their decisions from an infinitely long time ago. The test of a free choice in decision making is whether the person can make a different one. They could if they made their decision before God learns of it, but not after God knows it.
God faces the same problem, actually. The point made about book characters is a good one. If they could think, they would think they are making decisions, but they aren’t, being controlled by the author.
It astonishes me that theists list free will as an advantage of their position.
Or in the entire “OT” (real Bible to me.) I went through years of Hebrew School and lots of sermons in shul without ever being threatened by hell once. It made my deconversion much easier than it seems to be for Christians. No Spooky Mormon Hell Dreams for me.