I love it when people assume they know what Bible passages mean. It makes them seem so wise and yet so humble. If I were going to quote scripture (which I rarely do in the “this will prove my case” sense), I think I’d say something more like “consider [chapter] [book] [verse]-[verse]. [text]. Now, it seems to me that this is suggesting [thought].” Because then I don’t put myself forth as an authority on the Bible, which I am clearly not.
I assume I know what some mean. For instance, I read “Jesus wept”, and I think to myself Jesus cried. Now then you can go deeper, and think why did Jesus weep? He knew he’d raise Lazarus from the dead, so why was He crying? Lack of faith from the people? I know what I believe, but to say I’m proud because I know Jesus wept is a weak argument. I know that 2+2=4, and that .999~=1, but it doesn’t make me proud knowing that. I’m glad and thankful someone explained it to me, but I didn’t invent it. And the fact that there are a gazillion reference books, as well as an equal amount of Biblical commentaries, literal translations, Hebrew and Greek translators, and it’s in a language that we can go back and compare what is said, to whom it was said, and in what setting it was said, does allow us to study. The one program I have has 13 Bible translations, 15 commentaries, 7 dictionaries, and quite a lot reference books. Does this make me an expert? Nope, nor does my studying, as you don’t need to have either to know that what the Bible says. The more I learn, the more I see there is to learn, but that doesn’t stop me from learning, nor sharing what I’ve learnt. Pride is thinking I’m better than you for knowing, and I don’t believe that.
So if I had walked up to you on this infamous church/bar/street corner place and asked you what your thoughts were on homosexuality, what would you have said?
Esprix
Svt4Him, how can you claim to know exactly what one verse in the Bible says? Are you able to, for example, explicate the original language?
And your response to my last post re: ten commandments would be most appreciated:)
gee, why did He, indeed.
makes you wonder, doesn’t it?