My wife has ordered me to participate in the Bible Verse Challenge. I dont do religion on Facebook as a rule but, as I said, my wife has ordered me to participate and hence participate I must. I think there is a verse on this in Proverbs but the challenge applies to the New Testament so that verse wont apply. But I digress. I will therefore reveal my favorite verse and chuck in some of the reasons why that verse appeals to me. So this is going to be a long post which in itself is a bit strange considering that my wifes order on this issue was quite short. Anyway, my favorite verse is John 8:7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. So there! To make you see why this verse appeals to me, first some context. Jesus is being questioned by the fundamentalists of that time (the Pharisees) The Pharisees were, according to Dictionary. com Pharisee ˈfarɪsiː/ noun plural noun: Pharisees a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity. a self-righteous or hypocritical person. Anyway, these fundamentalists were testing Jesus on his take in connection with the observance of the Law and Jesus in essence came up with a beautiful come uppance. He essentially told them that you couldnt just understand the Law in a literal sense and that if God had indeed given the Law and intended for man to keep it Mathew 5:18 or truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Yet God also expects man to interpret the law and understand it in a way that achieves the maxim: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2: 27) Man was created before the law was proclaimed. And the law was proclaimed as a means to help man attain the end for which he was created. So Jesus is saying that one was look at Scripture as a means to achieve a maximum social and individual good. And stoning a person for a mistake he or she may have made is not the best way to go about achieving. In other words, Jesus is prompting us to use our brains. The same one God gave us before he proclaimed the Law. Now this is particularly interesting at a time when we have all brands of fundamentalists in the Middle East brandishing the Law and dictating behavior. It is important to remind these people (and ourselves) that God does not want us to be literalists. Nor does he want us to turn off our brains and hand over the business of thinking (for us and on our behalf) to some Cleric or Jurisprudent. At this point, I am probably starting to get into trouble with Catholic doctrine about infallibility but I am sure I am not breaking new ground. Another reason why I like the verse is because Jesus is proclaiming that even though the law does not change, our interpretation of it must change and evolve as we come to a better understanding of creation and our particular role in it. And indeed come closer to getting a glimpse into the purpose of God. I come to this conclusion because I sincerely believe that science is leading us towards God and not away from him. So even though I admire many cosmologists such as Stephen Hawking, I still disagree with them. There is as much to learn in John 8:7 than in deciphering quantum mechanics. But I digress again. The important thing however is not that Jesus is saying that the law is relative. That it applies differently to different people. It doesnt. It applies equally because the interpretation of it at a certain time applies equally to all. And it must ALWAYS be interpreted in the light of the second greatest and most sublime commandment which is embodied in Mathew 22.38 You shall love your neighbor as yourself.…. And of course, most people would agree that there is not much love in stoning someone for a mistake he or she has committed. Which brings us to the third reason why I like this verse which is: Context Because Jesus did not just say to the fundamentalists what amounts to Mathew 7:3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brothers eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? but he also continues and tells the sinner to go and sin no more. So it is not just a question of analyzing and interpreting the Law in a way that gets people off the hook, there is a concurrent obligation to fix yourself . This aspect was drilled into me by an Orthodox prelate whom I totally like and respect. He must have made an issue out of it because we Maronites are notorious for not learning from our mistakes which is obvious to everyone except us Maronites. But I digress again Anyway, I think that this will teach everybody not to challenge me anymore (especially my wife) because she will have to read an even longer response next time. Since it is my turn to nominate, I nominate you, reader, who has actually continued to read this to the end.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 19:34:16 +0000
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