So, I hear this question very quickly after I get the first one.
To remind everyone, the first one is “You don’t really take the bible literally do you?†After we walk through that issue, the next one is “What about all the weird commands in the Old Testament? Usually the ones that are brought up are the ones that deal with us being commanded to not eat shellfish and not to get tattoos. Occasionally the one about not cutting our sideburns comes up as well.
I am usually asked if I have read those and what I do with them.
Yes I have. Â 🙂 Â And the questions are very good and fair ones.
So, I thought it might be good to take them next. They get at more than just what do we think about tattoos and Bluefin crab, they get at how we read the very scriptures we take to be from God to us. Do we just think the lines we agree with are from God? If all of them are, how do we excuse not following the ones we don’t? How do we decide what to follow and what to not?
These questions get to the very heart of how we read the scriptures and how we allow those scriptures to shape us.
So, the questions I think that deal with this one are…
1) How do I look at the scriptures that clearly state I should do something that I don’t do, or that I shouldn’t do something that I am?
2) Why do I think God the Holy Spirit would guide the writers to write something can seem so archaic and unnecessary?
3) Jesus said that he didn’t come to defy the Law, but rather to fulfill it. Â And then he proceeded to give one of his most famous teachings about the new way he was calling us to see the Law. Â What is up with that?
4) So.. .what’s the deal? Â Shellfish or not? Â Can I get the sick eye tattoo this guy is sporting if I think I can pull it off or would it be morally wrong to do so? Â Polyester? Â I mean, beyond the obvious offenses of that stuff…
Any other ideas? Â Any missing pieces to this line of thought? Â Lemme know, lemme know…
Peace, Jim