Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugh
Sorry, Chris, but that sounds like an "it is what it is" answer - the old "I am right because I am right".
The Bible was written (and interpreted) in the mores and culture of the time (slavery, dietary, treatment of women, tribal warfare, etc) - the world has moved on in its understanding of why things are, or do not need to be (dietary re diseases and worms in food, slavery replaced by automation, treatment of women by treating them (mostly) as equals) - why should other things be any different, such as how we treat homosexuals?
Why is it some scripture is, excuse the phrase, gospel, but other parts aren't?
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Hugh, you're still assigning an equivalence to things that the Bible does not assign.
In the Old Testament the Bible sets down rules for ancient Israel governing the master/slave relationship. In the New Testament it sets down that when a master and slave become Christians, this should energise and inform their relationship without there being any compulsion to end it.*
In the Old Testament the Bible sets out very clearly that God finds homosexual practice abhorrent and it sets down rules for ancient Israel governing the judicial process to be used when dealing with it. In the New Testament it re-states the morally abhorrent status of homosexual activity and sets out warnings as to how God will deal with those involved in it.
You make a good point about the context in which the Bible was written, however it does not follow that the observation therefore allows the modern reader to re-interpret at will. The context in which the words were written aids understanding as to why they were written but also restricts the possible interpretations that can be put on them.
All of scripture is Gospel (God-speak) ... which is why as a Christian I take the Bible very seriously and prefer to promote the idea that society should be shaped by the Bible and not vice-versa.
* The key difficulty here is that 'slavery' is a heavily loaded term, and what was eventually abolished in 1833 was something quite different than the relationship advocated between masters and slaves in either the old or the new testaments. But here lies some very serious topic drift.