Comments by the Reader
Re: Article "Morality", Sept 18, 2017
Wow. You are a true scholar. So I can tell my lesbian friends who just got married that they can accept Christ as their personal Saviour and still be in a loving relationship. I will also refer them to this study. What Bible would you recommend they read to know more about His grace and love that doest have the word homosexual in it.
— AV...
Author's reply:
All modern-day English translations of the Bible are made with the translator's opinions, church doctrine, and culture. They have mistranslated Greek words to "homosexual" where that Greek word does not mean nor has ever meant homosexual.
The only Bibles I know that do not mistranslate malakos and arsenokitas as
"homosexual" are the ancient King James Version and Geneva Version. In those days, scholars thought arsenokitas meant "masturbation."
I recommend the book Key to Biblical Doctrine by Jerald L. Brown for a careful analysis of what the Bible – I mean, Jesus, – truly says and means.
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Great argument. Well done.
— LF...
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Not just time but culture informs morality. After all, the better reading of the Centurion's encounter with Jesus is that he hung back and asked the apostles to convey his need because he respected that Jesus might be put on the spot if a man with a male sex slave asked for healing publicly. And, it gives more dimension to Jesus calling him forward into the crowd and addressing him for everyone to hear, without a word of condemnation. The encounter with the Centurion is also followed immediately by Jesus addressing that same crowd and saying many who think they will be at the table of his Father's feast will not be, because they can't imagine all those who will be. The morality of a same-sex sex slave didn't seem to be in question before the grace of Jesus, not until translators with agendas on morality got ahold of the words used by the Roman officer.
— JCH...
Author's reply:
There are too many assumptions in your statement for me to come to the same conclusion. In Matthew 8:5-9 and Luke 7:1-7, the centurion called his slave pais. Pais is the Greek word meaning servant, slave, boy. We did the same thing many years ago, calling a black male adult "Boy." That didn't mean we wanted to have sex with him. It was a statement of status, not of affection or lust.
The Geek word doulos; used in Luke 7:2. means bond servant, or slave. pais means slave or boy. They can be synonymous, just as we have synonymous words in English.
Saying "because he respected that Jesus might be put on the spot" means you are practicing legilimency. You're reading minds. How can you read the mind of a man who lived 2,000 years ago? Even if you could read minds and thoughts, you still couldn't read his mind because he's dead. I do think you were not there and speaking that language, to understand the motives, thinking, culture and practices of the day. You've assumed things not recorded or in evidence.
You said "the better reading of the Centurion's encounter with Jesus is that he hung back". The centurion could not "hang back" because he was not present. Matthew 8 says the centurion came to Jesus, but Luke 7 indicates he came to Jesus by means of sending Jewish elders to go to Jesus on his behalf. The centurion stayed home and sent messengers to Jesus. Neither passage in Matthew or Luke says anybody hung back. It says simply that messengers came to Jesus when he returned to Capernaum.
You said "Jesus calling him forward into the crowd". The Bible doesn't indicate Jesus called anybody forward into the crowd.
I see nothing in the Bible that implies the centurion's slave was a sex slave. However, I could have overlooked something. If you have facts, I would want to hear them.
Re: Article "Sins of Jesus", Sept 11, 2016
Very, VERY good!
— Don...
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