Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: kilroy@mimsy.UUCP (Nancy's Sweetie) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Trouble passages in the SOM Message-ID: Date: 17 Sep 89 19:18:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742 Lines: 39 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [This is in response to the discussion of plucking out your right eye. geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) says it is not meant literally, but is pointing out the seriousness of sin. alfalfa!fullmer@dover.sps.mot.com (Glen Fullmer) says "No he is not saying that this is what you *should* do, he is commanding you to do it!" In a separate posting, Glen says "How do you know that it [ the instruction to tear out one's eye ] was not meant to be taken literally? That is a real convienent way to cop out." --clh] The problem I always have with the suggestion that Jesus is literally teaching self-mutilation is that it strikes me as ineffective: a blind man can lust too, after all. So let's suppose that you rip out your eyes per your interpretation, and you find yourself visualising what you can no longer see. Now what? You've cured a symptom, but the disease goes merrily on. (I suppose you could get a lobotomy or something, but that wasn't available in Jesus' time.) Since interpreting the command literally does not seem to gain you anything in terms of solving the problem of sin, I find that method of interpretation lacking -- so perhaps we should go beyond the words, and try to get to the message. >Perhaps we should not take literally that he was the Son of God! If you mean literally in terms of "God has a body and he engaged in sexual congress with Mary impregnating her prior to her marriage" (which I think qualifies as fornication), then I don't take it literally anyway. I'd guess that most people don't take "Jesus was the son of God" the same way they understand "Seth was the son of Adam". Uhhh.... do they? kilroy@mimsy.umd.edu Darren F. Provine ...uunet!mimsy!kilroy "Soft and weak overcome hard and strong." -- Lao Tsu, _Tao Te Ching_