Sad News WARNING: Bible Discussion

[frankielee242]

First Laura Ingalls Huntley wrote:
> the code for living as a "good" Israelite was made deliberately
> impossible for a mortal to even comprehend living up to.  The point
> being, of course, that no one is perfect and they needed *Jesus* to
> save them from their imperfections (this is the purely Christian view
> - as I was taught it - on things, btw..I don't know how Jewish people
> interpret it).

Then Judy wrote:
> Well, I can answer that for at least one Jewish person (me). The
> Jewish belief system doesn't talk about a Messiah as necessary for
> reconciling individual humans with God. The idea that humans are
> inherently sinful in not a Jewish idea; the rules are definitely meant
> to be followed.


My understanding of the lists of things "Thou Shalt Not Do" in the
Torah, the Bible and most other ancient religions is that a number of
the taboos were in place on the grounds of public health. For example,
not eating pigs which carry all sorts of parasites if incompletely
cooked, not sleeping around and picking up all sorts of STDs, not
eating or touching people with your left hand as there are no leaves
in the desert to wipe your...   

With this in mind, what Liz the Lurker pointed out about the Bible's
stance against sodomy makes sense. Homosexuality isn't limited
strictly to sodomy, after all. I'll have to get in touch with some
friends who were in a "Queers for Christ" Bible study group and see
what they have to say about it.

Here's where I get confused. Which version of the Bible is closest to
the Dead Sea Scrolls? Isn't that where most of the books in the New
Testament came from? Is the Christian Old Testament merely a copy
(plus or minus a few books) of the Torah?

On the cat soul front, Shaynie, I'm sorry your lost your cat. =( 

However, most eastern religions and a number of western pre-christian
religions hold that everything has a soul, even stones, trees and bits
of poop. =P  Seriously. Check out Chuang Tsu some time.

Can of worms, anyone?


Frankie, sincere of heart but questionable of taste.