Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!porthos.rutgers.edu!christian From: alfalfa!fullmer@dover.sps.mot.com (Glen Fullmer) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Trouble passages in the SOM Message-ID: Date: 15 Sep 89 09:03:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@porthos.rutgers.edu Organization: Motorola, Inc., Semiconductor Products Sector Lines: 30 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ilw%chem@ucsd.edu (Ivy Blumberg) writes: I believe Jesus' sermons are best understood when taken in context of the whole Bible--not just isolated verses. Many of the things he said were not meant to be taken literally, i.e. plucking out your eyeball. He said this to get across an important principle: Sin is terrible. God hates it and we need to have a radical attitude about getting it out of our lives! How do you know that it was not meant to be taken literally? That is a real convienent way to cop out. Perhaps we should not take literally that he was the Son of God! Jesus was NOT a pacifist.(John2:13-17) but we are to love our enemies the way he did. He never backed down from the truth but he gave his life up for it. If Jesus was NOT a pacifist, then he was a hypocrite, as the "resist not evil" seems pretty clear. Not backing down from the truth and giving up ones life does not mean He wasn't a pacifist! In fact, He had the power over His own life and could have killed all those who tried and delievered Him to the cross, don't you think? If that is not pacifism, then what is? -- ___ _ "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence" {__/ // "over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." \ // _ ___ Dick Feynman, Appendix F of Shuttle Disaster Report {__/