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I won't post the whole thing here because of its length. But it's Jesus dividing all of humanity into "sheep" and "goats", with the goats going into eternal fire and punishment. Not sure what Jesus had against goats, but in the story, the goats are the people who did not engage in various charitable acts. The sheep did engage in these charitable acts, and are rewarded in heaven.
While I'd say that charity is a good thing, punishing the non-charitable with eternal fire seems a bit harsh. Thoughts?
I won't post the whole thing here because of its length. But it's Jesus dividing all of humanity into "sheep" and "goats", with the goats going into eternal fire and punishment. Not sure what Jesus had against goats, but in the story, the goats are the people who did not engage in various charitable acts. The sheep did engage in these charitable acts, and are rewarded in heaven.
While I'd say that charity is a good thing, punishing the non-charitable with eternal fire seems a bit harsh. Thoughts?
Goats in the TaNaKh were
The scapegoat was a goat that was designated (Hebrew לַעֲזָאזֵֽל ) la-aza'zeyl; "for absolute removal", (ie for symbolic removal of the people's sins with the literal removal of the goat) and outcast in the desert as part of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, that began during the Exodus with the original Tabernacle and continued through the times of the temples in Jerusalem.
Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Cohen Gadol sacrificed a bull as a sin offering to atone for sins he may have committed unintentionally throughout the year. Subsequently he took two goats and presented them at the door of the tabernacle. Two goats were chosen by lot: one to be "for YHWH", which was offered as a blood sacrifice, and the other to be the scapegoat to be sent away into the wilderness. The blood of the slain goat was taken into the Holy of Holies behind the sacred veil and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the lid of the ark of the covenant. Later in the ceremonies of the day, the High Priest confessed the intentional sins of the Israelites to God placing them figuratively on the head of the other goat, the Azazel scapegoat, who would symbolically "take them away".
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat
Makes you wonder if the goats that where herded off the cliff to the abyss were not in fact the sin bearers for the sheep, I mean considering the function of the sheep...
I won't post the whole thing here because of its length. But it's Jesus dividing all of humanity into "sheep" and "goats", with the goats going into eternal fire and punishment. Not sure what Jesus had against goats, but in the story, the goats are the people who did not engage in various charitable acts. The sheep did engage in these charitable acts, and are rewarded in heaven.
While I'd say that charity is a good thing, punishing the non-charitable with eternal fire seems a bit harsh. Thoughts?
Mat 25:45 `Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of these, the least, ye did it not to me.
Seems like he is talking about the goats NOT doing to the sheep...Hmmm...
I call that wisdom and discernment...throwing out the chaff.
As far as 'cherry picking'...better than eating all the cherries...rotten ones and all!
That's a good point. I'm all for eating the good cherries. But when, after sorting out and devouring the good ones with relish, the claim is made that there were no bad ones in the batch and it was all good, something has gone wrong.
Yep,. I can totally relate to the positives and good cherries, but the refusal to say there are any bad ones is just denial of fact.
I'm familiar with the basic concept of a scapegoat. Is that what Jesus was referencing at the end of Matthew 25?
Regardless, I still say that the parable is "not so nice." Eternal punishment for a lack of charity? That's crazy.
I don't know...Can't say much because I haven't really put much of an effort into figuring that particular thing out...It just things that I see at a cursory level...Sorry...
Notice...They weren't getting booted because they did not believe in him...
Then again, these may have just been those who claimed to be Christians but weren't, kinda like the letting the weeds and wheat grow together and then separating them at harvest thing?...
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