[Vision2020] Jesus did NOT "not say it" 3

[Bill London]

J-
round of applause for my fave line of the week:
"Now I don't want to make any allegations but it seems to me that if one of
us was picking a religion that served his own selfish interests it wouldn't
be me."
BL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Campbell" <joekc at adelphia.net>
To: "Taro Tanaka" <taro_tanaka at hotmail.com>
Cc: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 6:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Jesus did NOT "not say it" 3


> I realize that this response is very late, Princess but I just wanted to
respond to a few of the points you made in your last correspondence to me.
>
> You write below that "we shouldn't pick and choose among the
rules/guidelines that we recognize as authoritative." This reminds me of
similar criticisms that I've heard from Doug Wilson and other religious
fundamentalists. The central claim is that folks who take a fundamentalist
interpretation of the Bible are motivated by truth and moral considerations
only and that all of us other folks are motivated by selfish considerations.
>
> Here's what I find ironic about this criticism. You are against gay
marriage, you think that certain instances of slavery have a Biblical
justification, and you favor a religious view in which men are deemed
superior to women. How surprising is any of this given that you, I assume,
are a straight, white male?
>
> I on the other hand am against gay marriage, against slavery in all forms,
and believe that all men and women are equal. Yet I am a straight, white
male, too! Now I don't want to make any allegations but it seems to me that
if one of us was picking a religion that served his own selfish interests it
wouldn't be me.
>
> You also write that "wisdom is never optional but rather obligatory" and
with this point I entirely agree! It is interesting, for instance, that
"philosophy" literally means "love of wisdom." It is also worth noting that
this semester I'm teaching both a logic class and a metaphysics seminar.
Care to join me?
>
> --
> Joe Campbell
>
> ---- Taro Tanaka <taro_tanaka at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> =============
> I can agree that 1) we should read the Bible according to a biblical
> hermeneutic, and 2) we shouldn't pick and choose among the
rules/guidelines
> that we recognize as authoritative (as you seem to be doing). Even where
the
> Bible gives us guidelines (which it does in places, along with
> unequivocating commendments in other places), following the guidelines is
> wisdom, and wisdom is never optional but rather obligatory.
>
> -- Princess Sushitushi
>
> Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote:
> [[ By a "literal, fundamentalist interpretation of biblical passages" I
mean
> an interpretation which treats the Bible as a rule book instead of a guide
> book, one that continually harps on a small number of passages condemning
> "homosexuality" yet ignores the many that suggest that we should love thy
> neighbor as thyself. ]]
>
> >---- Taro Tanaka <taro_tanaka at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote:
> >
> > >But it just doesn't follow from this that one should take a literal,
> > >fundamentalist interpretation of all Biblical passages.
> >
> >Joe, if I knew what constitutes a "literal, fundamentalist interpretation
> >of
> >biblical passages," I might be able to say whether I agree or disagree
with
> >what you wrote.
> >
> >-- Princess Sushitushi
>
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