Andy,
I freely admit that I am not a Bible scholar, and do not quote by chapter, and verse, but do remember the crux of what I have read, and re-read. I may not respond in order to the paragraphs in your post, but will do the best I can.
I have some problems with the early parts of the Old Testament. They were written by men based on oral history, or legend, of thousands of years, and many of the true facts are lost, or altered, in that period of time, with no record written at the time of the events. I have been chastised for this, but must be honest about my thoughts.
When the canon was collated over 300 years after the events happened, there is room for human interpretation on some issues, and consider the sect, or denomination if you wish, that did the collating. That group has altered many precepts of the Bible to suit their own interests.
The Baptists will argue about anything. They seem to have confederations that are as much at odds with each other as the Jews, and the Arabs.
IMO, the word "obey" when applied to the husband/wife relationship, is a bit too strong for modern times. I do, however, believe that there can be only one head of the household, and if the husband fulfills his obligations to the family, it should be him. By obligations, I mean feed, shelter, clothe, protect, love, etc. When the "wife obey" thing was written, there was no such thing as both partners earning a living, and there was seldom need for it. I find it hard to believe that God would not make allowances for the changes in customs that could only occur if He allowed them.
IMO, God is not the maker of, or controller of, governments. The beginning of governments began, I think, when the Hebrews demanded that they have a king against the wishes of God. God had made it clear that He did not condone kingdoms, other than His own. I do not believe that any government should be formed, or governed, by any religious faction. I do believe that government should not take offensive moves against religious expression, which IMO has, recently, been happening. I do believe that governments should behave in a moral, and honest, manner which can be construed to be religious, but is, really, just the proper thing to do.
Paul said a lot of good things, and he said a lot of things that I cannot agree with. In the first place, there should never have been slavery anywhere on the Earth, but we cannot change the past. Paul had no business trying to dictate the length of a woman's hair, or as he tried to do, men's hair. When any person, or group of persons, tells others what their appearance must be in daily life, or in religious worship, they are not speaking God's words, but merely their own. I believed Paul overstepped his bounds in some instances. He was just a human.
The several paragraphs you wrote after the "hair" bit, I cannot say that I do, or do not, believe what was written. Here again, we have things that, supposedly, happened but were not written down for hundreds, or thousands, of years after the events, if they happened at all.
Since Jesus, who I believe was a facet of God in the flesh when He walked the Earth, said that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, it seems that God does want humans to cooperate with each other. If anyone believes that God sanctioned the Crusades, or the Spanish Inquisition, and other such travesties of history, I say they are crazy.
I believe that Jesus is my Lord, and Savior, and that He will come again. Those that think they know when He is coming, are not reading His own words. He said that no one would know when. He did indicate there would be signs, in books of the Apostles, and added to them in Revelations, but if one thinks it out, some of those signs have been seen, but not nearly all.
I hope you understand that my words are my opinion, and my beliefs in Faith. I won't put IMO at the beginning of every sentence. As I have read it, there will be ample time for all doubters to give their souls to Jesus. I do believe that, if you do not take advantage of that opportunity, you will have reason to regret it. That is, if the event even happens in your life time. At my age, I feel, pretty sure, that it won't happen in mine.
If you truly love Jesus, and trust in God, then you will do the right thing at the right time. There is no human on Earth that is qualified to tell you how you must worship God. That is between the individual, and God.
~;=;o --haqi |
