[Vision2020] Either The Punch Is Dodged Or It Connects!

[Ted Moffett]

Doug, et. al.

Ah yes, those relativistic (oh, excuse me, I mean many-dimensional) 
interpretations of the Bible that conveniently are exploited by whoever is 
doing the interpreting to justify whatever ethical principle they wish to 
support, regardless of the total moral contradictions that may arise.   Need 
to back a war?  Somewhere in the Bible you will find a clever parable to 
unleash the violence with great moral gusto.  Thus we get a multitude of war 
crazed Christians.  Is pacifism more to your liking?  The Bible stands ready 
to do ethical service as the tool box of ethical justifications with an 
almost endless supply of moral directives on a multitude of subjects.  Thus 
we see numerous Christians who reject all violence and war, and what a 
relief this is!

Doug, you are much too intelligent to insult us with this cliché about 
modernity and either/or thinking.  There are many people who fit this 
imprecise and loosely defined concept of "modernity" who also adopt a 
multidimensional mode of cognition that rejects extreme either/or thinking.

Perhaps you also adopt an extreme either/or mode of thought when you assert 
(if you do) that your Trinitarianism is correct and those who follow 
"modernity,"  whatever that is exactly, are somehow misled.
Or will you concede (please, just a smidgen of doubt about your position 
would inspire glee!) that your metaphysical assumptions might be false and 
also that people who follow "modernity" might have some integrity to their 
thinking?

Either Trinitarianism or Modernity, right Doug?   If someone tried to 
combine the two worldviews, would you vehemently object?  Now, don't tell me 
they contradict each other in a manner that precludes such a merging!  If 
you do, I suggest you are employing the same either/or thinking you 
criticize in those who follow modernity.

Ted


>From: "Doug Jones" <credenda@moscow.com>
>To: "'Vision 20/20'" <vision2020@moscow.com>
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Floating like a lead balloon, stinging like jock 
>itch
>Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 11:37:01 -0500
>
>Joan wrote:
>
>she finds the connection between boxing and such an assertively 
>self-professed Christian group puzzling.  It’s hard to picture the man 
>who told us to love our neighbor and turn the other cheek floating over a 
>boxing ring in a Don King wig.
>
>Perhaps her puzzlement comes from thinking in an either-or fashion (sheesh, 
>that Modernity thing again). Trinitarianism is many-dimensional, like the 
>Bible. King David is considered a man after God’s own heart, yet he was a 
>warrior. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under 
>heaven: A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a 
>time to build up� (Eccl. 3:1,3). There’s a time to take a punch and a 
>time to pass. Life’s not simplistic. It would be immoral for my son to 
>turn his cheek in an alley if his sisters were being beat up. Boxing skills 
>keep him from that sort of sentimental immorality.
>
>
>  Jesus promised to come back to judge the quick and the dead, not to kick 
>our asses and bite off our ears.
>
>Well . . . not everyone’s butt.
>
>Doug Jones
>
>
>
>
>
>   _____
>
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