[Vision2020] FW: In other words . . .

Tue Nov 27 04:07:02 PST 2012

Perhaps the point Tom was trying to make was that many of those that allege
that they believe that the Bible is the *inerrant* word of some alleged God
(like Cultmaster Douglas Wilson and his Calvinist colleague, Fred Phelps)
frequently ignore those parts of the Bible that are inconsistent with their
personal agendas (which frequently includes the acquisition of personal
wealth as more personally important than helping the unfortunate [See
Matthew 25: 31 - 46 above -- the allege key to getting into heaven]).

^Long sentence.^

At any rate it is getting more and more difficult to decipher what Wilson
is trying to say as he continues his slide into obscurity even within the
Reformed movement.  He appears to be trying to retain some of his wandering
flock and attract new sheep to fleece by moving further toward extreme
political and theological positions and by moving further and further away
from the words of Christ as found in the Synoptic Gospels (part of which he
alleges to be the *inerrant* word of some alleges God.

w.

On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 11:26 PM, Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  w - I was merely trying to make sense out of Tom's interpretations (or
> misinterpretations) of Doug's comment about Thomas Sowell's comment.  They
> are all disjointed.
>
> FWIW - here's my scorecard:
> #1 Sowell is trying to make some point about greedy hypocrisy - point not
> taken by me with or even without consideration to follow on comments #2,
> #3, #4 below.
> #2 Doug states that Sowell being a black man probably is unaware that his
> sentiment is racist - this makes zero sense to me.  Would it not be racist
> if a white man had this same sentiment?
> #3 Tom sites Mathew 19:21 where Jesus tells some greedy guy to give his
> bird-in-hand to the poor for many birds-in-Heaven - this is orthogonal #1 &
> #2.
> #4 Tom then says it's a simple matter of 'one hand washing the other' -
> this is orthogonal to #1, #2, and #3.
>
> Your comment about camel through the eye of a needle is in line with #3
> which at least is consistence with something.
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:17:13 -0500
> From: art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] FW: In other words . . .
>
> Scott writes in part:
>
>   "b) Wayne's suggestion - Put this in context of Mathew 19:24 'And again
> I say unto you,it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle,
> than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God'
>   c) Scott's viewpoint - 'Jesus seems to be saying that in order to be
> perfect you need to become destitute by giving away all of your worldly
> possessions to the poor which will result in them in temporarily not being
> destitute / perfect.'  *I'm guessing there's more to this particular
> story that probably puts everything into a much more logical context.**"*
>
> If there is more Scott, please enlighten us by citing where we can find
> it.
>
> The issue raised here is about the relative importance of acquiring wealth
> versus earning salvation is very clearly focused in the the passage, and
> others from Matthew, the first of the Synoptic Gospels, and of which there
> is very wide agreement among biblical scholars that Matthew reflects the
> most accurate rendition of the [alleged] words of Jesus.  To understand the
> further context of this statement, it should be read in conjunction with
> Matt 25: 31 - 46 (see below).
>
> Attempts to discredit these words by the wealthy and certain Christian
> sects have taken several forms:
>
> The words are a mistranslation.
> Jesus never uttered them.
> They are not to be taken literally.
>
> Etc.
>
> A few months ago a group of conservative pundits and their wealthy backers
> suggested that the bible be rewritten to edit/remove that passage and many
> others from both Testaments that have/could be interpreted to be opposed to
> the accumulation of wealth or seem tobe supportive of anything that smacks
> of socialism.
>
> As a nonbeliever that Jesus uttered something carries no more weight than
> anyone else.  Statements are knowledge claims that need to be evaluated on
> the basis of current knowledge and frequently call for further
> investigation.  It is not clear what kind of investigation relying on
> empirical evidence would provide a hint of the truth of the passage at
> issue.
>
> [Matt 25: 31- 46]:
> 31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,
> then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be
> gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a
> shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep
> at his right hand and the goats at the left.
>
>
>
> 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are
> blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
> foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was
> thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
> welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you
> took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37Then the
> righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and
> gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was
> it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you
> clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited
> you?”
> 40And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to
> one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to
> me.”
>
> 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed,
> depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
> 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me
> nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked
> and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit
> me.” 44Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you
> hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not
> take care of you?”
>
>
>
> 45Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it
> to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46And these will
> go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’
>
>
>
>
> --
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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