Luke 12-13

[wolfpurplemoon]

So, you shouldn't fear someone who can 'merely' kill your body, because after that they can't do anything more to hurt you (that part's true). But you should fear the one with the power to throw you in to hell, after your death. As I've said before, no part of our concious mind can survive the death of our body, so it really is pointless to promise heaven or threaten hell to make people follow your religion.

Comments

Christian values

[(Anonymous)]

Paul told the women to be respectful and quiet in church. They had a problem in that particular church with a few women being very disruptive and also acting like they knew everything. Don't forget that at this time in history women were not educated. However, in many other passages, women are commended and held in high respect. Phoebe is called a deaconess by Paul. Women are considered joint (equal) heirs with Christ as well as men, something unheard of at that time.
Masters be just and fair to your slaves. With modern eyes, we look and say "How horrible to own slaves." And slavery is horrible. However, at this point in history slavery was common and accepted by all. Also, many of the new converts would already have owned slaves. And there really wasn't any concept of paid servants for your house or emancipation. The fact that Paul tells masters to treat their slaves well and that God would judge them on how they treated their slaves was a radical concept. But instead of Masters and slaves, these verses today could easily say Bosses treat your employees justly and fairly. I think you're getting hung upon it talking about slaves and missing the point of how it tells you to behave.

Don't be unequally yoked whether in marriage or business. This is just common sense. Do you really want to be married to or be in a business partnership with someone who doesn't believe in the same things you do or who has completely different values?
Leave your family and follow Jesus. Jesus wasn't saying not to take care of your parents. When Jesus was on the cross, one of the last things He did was ensure that His mother was taken care of. But, Jesus is saying that you need to put Him first. Additionally, the person Jesus said this too was not really concerned with taking care of his parents, he was just using them as an excuse not to follow Jesus.
Sell all your possessions and give to the poor. Not sure what your problem with this is. Helping the poor sounds like a pretty good thing to do to me.
Oh, and Noah didn't have daughters, he had sons. I think you may be thinking of Lot and his daughters, and this was not condoned in the OT. Incest was one of those things, like adultery that would get you stoned. And stoning the adulteress (and don't forget the man, he was included too)may seem harsh to us, but don't forget that these people were living agrarian lives where the strength and integrity of the family was essential for survival. Protecting at all costs was necessary for them.

But I think true Christian values can be summed up like this:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind," and "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Marci

Re: Christian values

[zen-says.livejournal.com]

Paul told the women? except 1 woman phoebe is mentioned as deaconess, where is the respect of paul to woman. let's talk about it when we come to the epistles and discuss further.

jesus, paul and gang, they have the concept of masters/slaves, and this is non-deniable. You mentioned that it is culturally acceptable, so the bible is culturally biased or only certain parts as the christians deemed fit?

So the unequally yoked is just common sense and becomes God inspired forever etched into an everlasting book?

So did jesus practised double standards when he asked the followers to followers to leave their parents behind and follow him, whereas he make sure his old mother is taken care of by he "beloved" disciple? You leave the dead to bury the dead and let me take care of my old folks. Hallelujah haha

Did jesus qualify that only the rich must sell his possessions for treasures in heaven? He made a statement, pure and simple.

Christian Value: Love your God with all your heart and neighbours as yourself. What exactly does it mean? Still no picking up sticks on sabbath day?

Re: Christian values

[marci38.livejournal.com]

I will wait to discuss Paul until the epistles. However, I will use an example from the gospels. After the resurrection, Jesus told the women to go tell the disciples about what they had seen. He was making them witnesses that the disciples were to give credence to. The only thing is at that time in Jewish history, women could not be witnesses because they were not considered equals of men or independent of men. When Jesus made the women witnesses, He was making them the equal of His male followers.

Just because something is common sense does not mean it can't come from God. Many of the commands God gave were logical and full of common sense. For example, if a rat died on a blanket or piece of clothing, it was to be burnt(black death anyone?).

As I stated earlier, Jesus was not telling his disciples to abandon their families(in point of fact, most early christians were the ones who were abandoned and it still happens today, especially in the Middle East). He was telling His followers that He is to be first in their lives. Again, the man was using his family as an excuse to get out of the hard stuff, in all likelihood his parents were alive and well and needed no help.

Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell his possessions and give them to the poor. Jesus knew that this young man was putting his wealth before God. In a later passage we'll see a story of a rich man who put his wealth first and ignored the poor and what happened to him. This was not a blanket statement for all Christians. It dealt more with priorities and making God first in your life. However, Christians are told to help the poor and to give to whoever asks them. Unfortunately, many Christians do not follow Jesus' commands. Money is still #1 in many people's lives, and Christians aren't immune.

I'm not sure where you're not understanding love God and love your neighbor the way you love yourself. It sounds pretty self-explanatory to me. If you clarify what you don't understand, I'll try to answer. Also, it's more than just saying you love someone. Love requires action.

I like to study both sides of an argument and I try to be open minded which is one reason why I started reading this blog. Too many Christians condemn others without trying to learn anything about them and then wonder why people get upset.

Marci

Re: Christian values

[zen-says.livejournal.com]

when jesus told the girls to witness, he had got no choice, only the gals went to visit him early morning because none of his disciples believed him.

he even refered the gentile woman as "dog"? feed the children 1st and the dog eat the crumbs....

so much for being equal,,,,