Sunday, February 03, 2008

Go!

“To put it another way, Paul said to hold to his oral teachings. No cut off date or condition is given. Therefore, we should not assume one. If you joined the church in Thessalonica 10 minutes after Paul left, you ought not doubt what the church conveyed to you as Paul's teachings. Neither should you doubt a year later, or 5 years or 10 or 20 or 50 or 500.”

So, according to our Orthodox apologist, any (divine?) command given to anyone in Scripture amounts to a standing command to every Christian unless that command is explicitly repealed in Scripture.

Let’s apply this reasoning to some other commands in Scripture. I’ll confine myself to divine commands. And to economize, I’ll limit myself to just one verb, although I could illustrate the same principle using any number of other verbal imperatives in Scripture:

Joshua 6:22

"Go into the harlot's house."

1 Samuel 15:18

“Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.”

1 Samuel 23:2

"Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

2 Kings 5:10

"Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan."

Hosea 1:2

"Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness."

Matthew 17:27

"Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin."

Matthew 19:21

"Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor."

Mark 14:13

"Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.”

John 9:7

"Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam."

1 comment:

  1. i) It's mean to be silly. It answers you on your own level, silly.

    ii) And you're also shifting gears. The question at issue is the implicit conditionality of certain commands.

    iii) Yes, the quotes are taken out of context—just like you rip 2 Thes 2:15 out of context.

    And since I believe that you are violating the ban, you will be summarily deleted. Bye-bye!

    ReplyDelete