<<It's worth noting that there were 3 offenses in the Levitical
laws that required death by stoning.>>
1. adultery
2. homosexuality
3. incorrigibly disobedient children>>
What abysmally vile laws. And you say they were God's, and that they lasted thousands of years, or millions, before the new dispensation. Too bad for all those who were stoned to death, and for those children who were eaten by a bear for teasing Elijah, that they were born a little early. Karma?
Are you sure those children were "incorrigibly" disobedient? Does the original law say "incorrigible?" Does the story say that they, in particular, were "incorrigible?"
My husband, who studies many things, and this subject for a book he is writing now, is interested to see what he calls "the great lie of Christianity" so graphically restated in your post, Bob.
His comment: 'Jesus lived and died a devout Jew. He went out of his way to say that he had not come to change the law by a "tittle or a jot." After his death, Paul set in motion the falsified Jesus, a reconstruction that forced him into deep antagonism with Jesus's own Jewish tradition. This issue is at the heart of the historic developments within New Testament scholarship, and those who are interested in the subject, yet don't follow these developments, run the risk of seeming badly out of it.
(There were many currents in the Judaism of Jesus's time which called for a softer application of Deuteronomic Law-- he agreed with those who were opposed to stoning for adultery, he was silent on homosexuality, and his position on stoning the little ones to death must be inferred from his kind remarks about them. On divorce he was more rigorous, even, than Moses. But all of these positions were positions solidly anchored within the Judaism of the time.)'
I'm back again. As you can see, my husband is even crankier than I am about religion. Also, when I talk, the discussion gets simpler because it's so uncluttered by knowledge!
Here's another quote from your post:
<<God very clearly pointed out that we are no longer under the "curse of the law" (all those who accept the new contract, Jesus). >>
So... am I misunderstanding, or are you telling me that those of us who don't "accept the new contract, Jesus," should really be punished by the old law? |
