On Thursday, 15 March 2018 3:18:49 PM AEDT Rick Moen via luv-talk wrote:
You had absolutely no basis for claiming that a majority of Americans would or would not read the Bible, irrespective of what his alleged 25% of the population is.
This is obvious. You put yourself in a hole by claiming otherwise. Stop digging.
Would you be happier if instead I said "most Americans demonstrate no knowledge of the Bible in online debates and most articles in the media that touch on such issues accept without question claims that directly go against the Bible"? For example consider all the discussions about homosexuality where Christians reference the Old Testament. Such people usually have no problem eating cheeseburgers, ham, or shellfish. There are reasonable theological beliefs about excluding most of the Old Testament for non-Jewish people who are Christian (a Jewish friend tells me that his interpretation is that if he converted to Christianity he would still be bound by Kosher restrictions etc). But anyone who is going to exclude themself from the Kosher dietary restrictions is also excluding themself from citing the Old Testament in support of political aims. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-death-penalty-in-jewish-traditi... Above is one article about the death penalty in the Jewish tradition. As that article makes clear even though there are some verses that clearly state that the death penalty is required if you consider the entire Torah along with the traditions for interpreting it then it's a very different issue. There are issues where the Bible has different versions that could give different meanings, including some fairly important issues like whether non- believers can go to heaven (last time I looked into it I could find evidence to make a good case for either alternative). But you don't often see any Christian mention such things, it's just a matter of faith regarding which interpretation to take. Rick, you have demonstrated an excellent knowledge of theology in general and the Bible in particular. In all the times I've been involved in religious and political discussions on the Internet there has only been one other person who has demonstrated such an ability, and he's Jewish. It's a poor showing for team Christianity. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/meet-the-catholic-priest-whose-twitt... There are Christians who are really good at analysing the Bible and debating it. The above article about Rev. James Martin, S.J is worth reading. However if you read his twitter feed most of the responses demonstrate a lack of knowledge of the Bible. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/