I believe you are right for the old testament commandments, but it does seem like cherry picking to say the early restrictions should only apply to the Israelites, and later verses that would expand the scope in letters from Paul shouldn’t be accepted.
It’s not cherry picking to recognize who was talking to who, and whether or not their words should be taken as divine instruction to each individual who reads them. It’s just using your head instead of letting religious authorities put onerous demands on the populace. Jesus said love your neighbor as you love yourself and do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Anything that contradicts that is obviously not to be taken seriously.
It’s cherry picking because it’s choosing which pieces of the bible to give credence to and which to ignore based on preference. Paul was chosen as God’s chosen vessel; I don’t see why his instructions to the early church should be cast aside.
Jesus did say to love thy neighbor, yet it is easy to find examples of God condoning slavery and demanding genocides. Unless you intend to also deny those parts, it’s pretty clear he’s willing to contradict that commandment against whoever he considers sinful. For gay men, he prescribed the death penalty, although that was part of the covenant with Israel. I don’t think the new testament says how they should be punished, just that it’s a sin.
SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days ago
Those were conditions of the covenant God made with the nation of Israel. They have nothing to do with Christianity.
KombatWombat@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I believe you are right for the old testament commandments, but it does seem like cherry picking to say the early restrictions should only apply to the Israelites, and later verses that would expand the scope in letters from Paul shouldn’t be accepted.
SarahValentine@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 days ago
It’s not cherry picking to recognize who was talking to who, and whether or not their words should be taken as divine instruction to each individual who reads them. It’s just using your head instead of letting religious authorities put onerous demands on the populace. Jesus said love your neighbor as you love yourself and do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Anything that contradicts that is obviously not to be taken seriously.
KombatWombat@lemmy.world 4 days ago
It’s cherry picking because it’s choosing which pieces of the bible to give credence to and which to ignore based on preference. Paul was chosen as God’s chosen vessel; I don’t see why his instructions to the early church should be cast aside.
Jesus did say to love thy neighbor, yet it is easy to find examples of God condoning slavery and demanding genocides. Unless you intend to also deny those parts, it’s pretty clear he’s willing to contradict that commandment against whoever he considers sinful. For gay men, he prescribed the death penalty, although that was part of the covenant with Israel. I don’t think the new testament says how they should be punished, just that it’s a sin.