tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post4171821108758653028..comments2023-11-02T08:25:17.606-07:00Comments on I wonder as I wander: Try out the sliding-sin scale today!OneSmallStephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-69775831620337947632009-05-02T08:52:00.000-07:002009-05-02T08:52:00.000-07:00Society,
**I have a problem with the 'sliding sca...Society,<br /><br />**I have a problem with the 'sliding scale' idea and each sin being equal - since no on actually behaves like this in reality.**<br /><br />Not only is no one like this in reality in terms of behavior, I think most people actually praise people for perhaps thinking about stealing, but then deciding to be better than that thought. DagoodS made a comment in the last post about moral growth and the ability to rise above our first impulses. We do recognize the distinction between one and the other, and we see that as a good thing. A child wanting to hit another child, but then knowing that is wrong, decides to be better than that. Yet under Christianity, the two are equal.OneSmallStephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-84047193780064719202009-04-27T14:55:00.000-07:002009-04-27T14:55:00.000-07:00Loved the blog!
I have a problem with the 'slidin...Loved the blog!<br /><br />I have a problem with the 'sliding scale' idea and each sin being equal - since no on actually behaves like this in reality. If no one is like this in reality (unless they are psychopathic) then this idea has no basis in a 'working theology' making it useless more or less. <br /><br />Is a lie always a sin? No. It may a deviation from the acceptable standard - but sometimes it can be justified. In the case of the kids stealing bread - for their family - we can also see this concept at work (justifiable use of theft). Not everything is 'black n whie' - main reason countries erect justice systems (to interpret the law).<br /><br />Problem in Christianity is they refuse to see how all there teachings are actually law by another name - gospel. The gospel is directly related to the Torah and Prophets and teachings derived from there - which in essence - is a religious system that required judges/lawyers. <br /><br />So the dis-connect going on is one of knowing how to look at law - and sin. Once you go there - not everything is equal - they may all be deviations (in that sense equal) but not all deserve punishment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-34124955818268793222009-04-26T09:18:00.000-07:002009-04-26T09:18:00.000-07:00Mystical,
**which further compounds the difficult...Mystical,<br /><br />**which further compounds the difficulty of using the human concept of justice to describe God's actions.**<br /><br />And I think we really see this when studying how all the atonement theories were created -- many of them were influenced by the very culture that they were created in. It's like someone saying that they know Jesus took our punishment because that's exactly how it was presented in the Bible.. Yet the Eastern Orthodox follow a different theory, and they would argue that theirs is the one clearly presented in the Bible.OneSmallStephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-33504761882177627682009-04-26T09:12:00.000-07:002009-04-26T09:12:00.000-07:00Pastor Bob,
**Leaving contemporary societies alon...Pastor Bob,<br /><br />**Leaving contemporary societies alone you don't have to go too far back in history to see hungry children being hung for stealing bread. It was the law in England at least through the early 19th century.**<br /><br />I think this supports my point, though -- when we look back on that time, I think most of us are horrified that a society existed where starving children were hung for stealing bread. We find that problematic for a few reasons -- that theft of that nature is treated so harshly, and that society was structured such that children had no recourse but to steal in order to survive. <br /><br />Yet, based on a near fundamentalist/conservative viewpoint, this is exactly how God behaves. The tiniest infraction earns you the worst penalty -- the same penalty one would receive if one committed the worst infraction. <br /><br />If a society operated that way, no one would find it to be a good, just society. Yet if God is presented as operated that way, He is still considered both good and just.OneSmallStephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-43983207064471457512009-04-26T09:07:00.000-07:002009-04-26T09:07:00.000-07:00It's true that different cultures have different c...It's true that different cultures have different concepts of justice, which further compounds the difficulty of using the human concept of justice to describe God's actions.<br /><br />That being said, I think we can't just reduce all concepts to cultural relativism and say that it is just a Western concept that, for example, executing children for stealing is a bad thing. I don't subscribe to the idea that all concepts of justice are equally valid, and the decision by Western societies to stop doing that to children really does represent an improvement in justice as far as I'm concerned. If we accept that not all concepts of justice are equally valid, that some concepts represent something closer to the divine concept of justice, then we have to ask ourselves what makes something just. Which gets back to the problem of applying a human concept of justice to God--it is a bit of a moving target. But maybe that's the point.<br /><br />I am influenced by process theology in how I view such things. To me, this moving target represents a creative influence on human societies, which allows societies to recognize that certain former practices were injust--sexual inequality, for example, or capital punishment. If these changes in human understanding of justice represent improvements, as I think they do, then they also represent a human response to a divine influence.Mystical Seekerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10828225180668865911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-37608732312747204492009-04-25T14:28:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:28:00.000-07:00Leaving contemporary societies alone you don't hav...Leaving contemporary societies alone you don't have to go too far back in history to see hungry children being hung for stealing bread. It was the law in England at least through the early 19th century.<br /><br />As to adultery I suspect that those with political power always got away with it and those who didn't paid the price.<br /><br />My point is that our sensibilities in modern western cultures are different from those which have prevailed in other times and in other cultures.<br /><br />I'm not suggesting that your attempt to make a distinction between big and little sins is wrong, rather that different cultures consider different behaviors to be big or little sins. <br /><br />Pastor BobPastor Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10510081361292855641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-45768277768100506952009-04-25T14:23:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:23:00.000-07:00Lorena,
Think away. :)
I would say another diff...Lorena,<br /><br />Think away. :)<br /><br />I would say another difference is that one group of murderers/rapists is covered in blood, and the other is not ... <br /><br />Hmm. I was originally going with the idea that the blood-covered ones were in Heaven, and the blood belonged to Jesus. But depending on how hell works out, maybe those in hell are also covered in blood, only the blood of victims.OneSmallStephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-52913478895995593112009-04-25T14:21:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:21:00.000-07:00Andrew,
**This plays toward my suspicion that God...Andrew,<br /><br />**This plays toward my suspicion that God is Holy.... but not anal.**<br /><br />lol. Do you remember those signs a while back where it was something God said? I can see this as one of the signs.<br /><br />"I'm Holy, people, not Anal."<br /> -- God.OneSmallStephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08189124855157679020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-52367973165641445172009-04-25T14:15:00.000-07:002009-04-25T14:15:00.000-07:00I have to think about your post before I can give ...I have to think about your post before I can give my real answer. My feeling right now, though, is that both heaven and hell are the same thing. Murderers and rapists will be at both places, so if the temperature is the only difference, I would much rather be in hell where most people are supposed to end up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2656181765145241350.post-68307374981576559322009-04-25T13:30:00.000-07:002009-04-25T13:30:00.000-07:00I always heard that "equality" of sin thing growin...I always heard that "equality" of sin thing growing up, but I don't find a strong argument for it in scripture. Jesus seemed to think there were gnats and camels.<br /><br />God doesn't seem to bent out of shape about some circumstances of lying. When Samuel was concerned about going to anoint David and about Saul's probable violent reaction; God said - Tell him you have come to offer sacrifice.<br /><br />This plays toward my suspicion that God is Holy.... but not anal.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12494823779999456396noreply@blogger.com