Divine Inspiration or Divine Dictation?

[Phillip V]

I was at a college Bible Study tonight (about 8 people), and we were covering a section in 1 Corinthians, in which Paul may be saying that men should have short hair for prayer, and that women should have long hair or possibly wear a veil or head covering.

Thus, they debated about whether women should wear a veil in Church. I said that regardless, the matter was not very important, the section looked like a choppy edit, and Paul's arguments were weak. Everybody was shocked and started throwing passages at me that I should give equal weight to any part of the Bible, and that I was on a "slippery slope". 

I said that surely it is more important for me to listen to the life and words of Christ such as the commandment to love one another than to worry about the headgear on women or the ban on tattoos in Leviticus for that matter. Nor can I give equal authority to a whole text that has been continually edited and translated by the hand of Man thousands of years after the fact. The study ended silently with red faces. Am I on a slippery slope? 

[Admiral Yi]

On the slippery slope TO ETERNAL DAMNATION.

[Alatriste]

Well, if they give equal weight to all parts of the Bible they must be doing some quite unpleasant things in their backyards. 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' and all that. You already mentioned Leviticus, which in many fields makes Talibans look positively modern and tolerant in comparison.

At the very least a Christian should always give preference to the New Testament over the Old, which is not compatible with giving equal weight to all parts of the Bible.   

[Phillip V]

On the slippery slope TO ETERNAL DAMNATION.

Indeed! I could see it in their eyes. 

[garbon]

Well exactly who are you to be decided which parts are important and which parts are not? Are you a theologian?

[Phillip V]

Well exactly who are you to be decided which parts are important and which parts are not? Are you a theologian?

A Christian endowed with logic [and spirit] aided by tradition and Scripture. The theologian and I both follow Christ, who is the ultimate judge.

I yield that the theologian is well-read and possesses the tools better for Biblical interpretation, but I would be even more wary of him considering my wariness of the Bible. From a Scriptural point of view, Jesus shat on such "educated" people in comparison to prostitutes.

[Eochaid]

As an agnostic and a European, I find you to be on the slippery slope of going to Bible Study and therefore being ridiculed by a lot of people.

Kevin

[Magnus]

Those men you claim are shat on by Jesus, have dedicated thier lives to him, and as such know him more closely then you, and to cite logic, logic is a tool, never let it get in the way of Faith. When the work they have done, meeting together, discussing the correct interpretation amongst hundreds, over centuries, is so readily dismissed as "continually edited ... thousands of years after the fact", what does that say about you? Is your mind more intouch with God then those who have dedicated thier service to him. What arrogance, what hubris, would actually make you think that you have any right to question it?

Or follow the path that most logic based arguments about god lead to: "I don't know."
Sometimes followed with, "It doesn't matter, I'll live a good live regardless"

[grumbler]

Those men you claim are shat on by Jesus, have dedicated thier lives to him, and as such know him more closely then you, and to cite logic, logic is a tool, never let it get in the way of Faith. When the work they have done, meeting together, discussing the correct interpretation amongst hundreds, over centuries, is so readily dismissed as "continually edited ... thousands of years after the fact", what does that say about you? Is your mind more intouch with God then those who have dedicated thier service to him. What arrogance, what hubris, would actually make you think that you have any right to question it?

Why not?  Scholasticism has been discredited as an intellectual process for centuries now.

Dediction of "one's life to [Jesus]" gives one no more insight than simply reading the Bible, it seems to me.  One doesn't know the topic of a biography more by repreated readings of the biography, if one reads it carefully the first time.  It isn't like there are more words in the book the second time.

[CountDeMoney]

The study ended silently with red faces.

Did any of them take pics of themselves in a hotel bathroom?

[Magnus]

Those men you claim are shat on by Jesus, have dedicated thier lives to him, and as such know him more closely then you, and to cite logic, logic is a tool, never let it get in the way of Faith. When the work they have done, meeting together, discussing the correct interpretation amongst hundreds, over centuries, is so readily dismissed as "continually edited ... thousands of years after the fact", what does that say about you? Is your mind more intouch with God then those who have dedicated thier service to him. What arrogance, what hubris, would actually make you think that you have any right to question it?

Why not?  Scholasticism has been discredited as an intellectual process for centuries now.

Dediction of "one's life to [Jesus]" gives one no more insight than simply reading the Bible, it seems to me.  One doesn't know the topic of a biography more by repreated readings of the biography, if one reads it carefully the first time.  It isn't like there are more words in the book the second time.

The argument of the theologian is not based solely on the text of the bible, nor on simply the surrounding text. As such your Scholasticism reference has little to do with God and his worship. It simply undermines any "critical" anaylisis, "logic" along with it. Leaving only pure faith in God. The reason any true theologian has more weight than you, is that he, to some degree, acts as an envoy of God. A true theologian is of course a man of the cloth, and as a man of the cloth. Be he a priest, bishop or the Pope, if you are so lucky as to hear his words, you can subscribe far more to him then to your own thoughts.

[Caliga]

How come so many Asian-Americans are devout Christians?

Like 90% of the ones I've known have been hardcore Protestants of some flavor.

[Valmy]

I said that surely it is more important for me to listen to the life and words of Christ such as the commandment to love one another than to worry about the headgear on women or the ban on tattoos in Leviticus for that matter. Nor can I give equal authority to a whole text that has been continually edited and translated by the hand of Man thousands of years after the fact. The study ended silently with red faces. Am I on a slippery slope? 

No you are absolutely right and on the path to enlightenment.  How can you even give equal authority to each of the gospels when they tell dramatically different stories?  It seems to me only people who have not actually read the bible could claim they give every word equal authority.  Besides what about the tons of translations and versions throughout the centuries?

[Valmy]

Those men you claim are shat on by Jesus, have dedicated thier lives to him, and as such know him more closely then you, and to cite logic, logic is a tool, never let it get in the way of Faith. When the work they have done, meeting together, discussing the correct interpretation amongst hundreds, over centuries, is so readily dismissed as "continually edited ... thousands of years after the fact", what does that say about you? Is your mind more intouch with God then those who have dedicated thier service to him. What arrogance, what hubris, would actually make you think that you have any right to question it?

What nonsense.  How dare Jesus or any of the prophets go against the correct interpretation amongst hundreds of Jewish scholars and priests over the centuries.  How arrogant were they?  Are you seriously implying that the way to be religious is to trust conventional beliefs entirely?

[Darth Wagtaros]

This study group must have been Protestant.