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1 Corinthians 7:12 Pauls says "I, not the lord" And in 7:25 he says that it is his commandment concerning virgins. One can assume that everything written after Paul uses that phrase is just his opinion.
1 Corinthians 7:12 Pauls says "I, not the lord" And in 7:25 he says that it is his commandment concerning virgins. One can assume that everything written after Paul uses that phrase is just his opinion.
It's clear that, when he writes to answer a number of questions the Corinthians have asked him, he begins with a series of opinions that he evidently regards as God- given. When it comes to the question of believers with unbeliever spouses, Paul gives his own opinion but specifically says that he can't say it's God - given. Similarly, he writes about whether virgins should marry or not 1.7.25). Such matters appear to irritate him a little. he is much happier in exhorting his people to get ready for the imminent last days "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short" (29). He is not concerned with compiling rules for an organization that is going last for a millennium or more, but to get his followers into 'grace' for when Jesus comes again.
In 1 Corinthians 8, he goes on to food sacrificed to idols. If he has returned to God-given instructions, he does not say so, but his reasonings certainly sound as though he is working it out in his head.
In the end, what he is getting from God and what he is working out for himself is pretty much the same thing, but what comes 'Ping' into his head without much thought he probably ascribes to God and what he has to reason out he does not.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 11-13-2009 at 06:44 AM..
1 Corinthians 7:12 Pauls says "I, not the lord" And in 7:25 he says that it is his commandment concerning virgins. One can assume that everything written after Paul uses that phrase is just his opinion.
There are those who will espouse that the bible we have was written by "the finger of God". While that may have ben true about the original autographs....we do not have those...we don't have anything close to those. What we do have are the rewritten and edited versions from the Church of Rome and Constantine. Once you separate what you can clearly see in scripture was added for the political and secular agenda of Rome...you can find the true spiritual meanings of what Jesus actually taught. So don't get caught up on the "literal" words that are written....let the Spirit guide you into the truth.
There are those who will espouse that the bible we have was written by "the finger of God". While that may have ben true about the original autographs....we do not have those...we don't have anything close to those. What we do have are the rewritten and edited versions from the Church of Rome and Constantine. Once you separate what you can clearly see in scripture was added for the political and secular agenda of Rome...you can find the true spiritual meanings of what Jesus actually taught. So don't get caught up on the "literal" words that are written....let the Spirit guide you into the truth.
Therein lies the OTHER rub. The determination as to what is and what isn't is left up to YOU - the human.
Most Christian apologists, will say that it is gods written word, but then say it is man inspired by god as a weaseler when the scripture is contradictory or as in some cases completely bizarre. In the end it is a human written book that has little value. It contains useless information or obvious teachings that are hardly unique to the bible. Take Do onto others as you would have them do onto you, many of the followers of Confucius, and Buddha have writings saying the same thing, hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. The Greeks had much the same sayings as Jesus did, so either Jesus was just espousing things from other philosophical thinkers or when those who invented Jesus created the myth they attributed the things of the times that seemed God like. But in the end, the Judeo Christian religion is not something that sprung new on the world, rather it was a Frankenstein compilation of other religions.
It is known that the Jews stole much of their religion from other cultures, the epoch of Gilgamesh predates the flood story, and has god telling Gilgamesh that the world is evil and he will destroy it with a flood and to build an arc to save him and the animals, bla bla bla. The thing that really scares me is we came as close as we did to electing a woman [Palin] to office a heartbeat away from the presidency that believes this garbage is true and factual. Talk about a world gone crazy, I think a U.S. with Palin's finger on the red button is scarier than Iran with a nuke.
1 Corinthians 7:12 Pauls says "I, not the lord" And in 7:25 he says that it is his commandment concerning virgins. One can assume that everything written after Paul uses that phrase is just his opinion.
The idea of a "human and a divine" author is pretty much what it always was seen as so far as I know. The canon was certainly compiled by people.
And there are things fairly unique to Judaism or Christianity. Many of the things people say are lifted from XYZ only occur in a very small number of books of the Bible. On Judaism you really don't see another monotheistic an-iconic religion that opposes child sacrifice or infanticide. (And for any revived grumbling on that when I say "infanticide" I mean a cultural practice of killing kids. I do not mean war crimes involving children)
The Christian concept of "love your enemy" is mentioned by Confucius, but only to disparage it. Possibly Mo Zi of the Moists believed in something like it, but it's fairly unique to Christianity. (And it seems highly unlikely early Christians knew of Moism) The emphasis on mercy, humility, and redemption was also strange for that region or era.
Paul's command abut the permanence of marriage comes from the OT (Genesis 2:24 and from Jesus (Mark 10:2-12) His suggestion in this verse is based on God's command, and Paul applies it to the situation the Corinthians were facing.
It is a compilation of disconnected tales of fantasy, fiction, urban legends, and distorted recounts of events.
The word of any deity, not so much.
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