Principles for Marriage
You should not engage in sexual immorality, but each person should get married and have one person who it is ok to have sex with. Nobody should withhold sex from their spouse. If you are unmarried or a widow, it is good to stay that way unless you have trouble with self-control. In that case you should get married because "it is better to be married than to burn with passion."
Get married so you can have sex, it's in the bible!
If you marry an unbeliever they become holy through you otherwise your children would be unclean.
Interesting rule.
Live as You Are Called
Live the life that the lord has assigned to you. Whatever condition you were in when called remain there with God.
It seems to be saying to stay where you are and don't strive to better you life, although it also says if you are a slave and you have the opportunity to become free you should do it. So I'm not really sure what the point is here.
The Unmarried and the Widowed
If you want to get married that is ok, but if you do you will be distracted by worldly things.
This is much more measured that most of the stuff I have come across, so that is good. Not sure I agree with it though, we are all distracted by worldly things, married or not.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
1 Corinthians 6
Lawsuits Against Believers
You should not bring disputes between believers to the secular court. Matters between believers should be handled within the church.
This is an interesting idea, I like discouraging using the court system, but to forbid it is a whole other matter. What if another believer is trying to screw you over? Are you just supposed to take it? I guess the verse says you are supposed to take it to the church elders. I also don't know how the courts of the day compare to the courts of this time, perhaps it is not even a fair comparison to make.
Flee Sexual Immorality
If you perform sexually immoral acts you are committing a sin against the body of Christ because your body and his become one.
One of the problems I have with religion is that it makes people have issues with sex. Sex shouldn't be this big horrible taboo, it should be something we can have a conversation about and feel ok doing. The fact that this is so vague is bad, "I'm having a sexual desire, is it bad? Am I bad?" I don't like that kind of self questioning being encouraged.
You should not bring disputes between believers to the secular court. Matters between believers should be handled within the church.
This is an interesting idea, I like discouraging using the court system, but to forbid it is a whole other matter. What if another believer is trying to screw you over? Are you just supposed to take it? I guess the verse says you are supposed to take it to the church elders. I also don't know how the courts of the day compare to the courts of this time, perhaps it is not even a fair comparison to make.
Flee Sexual Immorality
If you perform sexually immoral acts you are committing a sin against the body of Christ because your body and his become one.
One of the problems I have with religion is that it makes people have issues with sex. Sex shouldn't be this big horrible taboo, it should be something we can have a conversation about and feel ok doing. The fact that this is so vague is bad, "I'm having a sexual desire, is it bad? Am I bad?" I don't like that kind of self questioning being encouraged.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
1 Corinthians 5
Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church
You are sexually immoral of a particularly bad kind, men sleeping with their "father's wife". Remove those who have done this from among you. Although I am not there in the flesh, I am there in spirit and have already judged guilty the person who has done this. You are to "deliver this man to Satan" so his spirit may be saved "in the day of the Lord".
I have a few comments here.
First, why "father's wife"? why not "mother"? This is just strange terminology.
Second, he just said not to judge last chapter, and yet here he is judging when he isn't even there.
Third, what does delivering him to Satan mean? It sounds like he is saying kill him and send him to hell, but I think that might be based on the modern take on things. For if you sent him to hell in the way we think about it, he would never be saved.
You shouldn't boast.
Agreed.
When I said not to associate with sexually immoral people, I am not saying that you cannot associate with outsiders who don't follow our rules, for this would restrict all contact with outsiders. But you should not associate with those inside the church who do these things. You shouldn't judge outsiders, that is for God to do, but cleanse the church from within.
Again, he is saying to judge right after he said not to judge.
You are sexually immoral of a particularly bad kind, men sleeping with their "father's wife". Remove those who have done this from among you. Although I am not there in the flesh, I am there in spirit and have already judged guilty the person who has done this. You are to "deliver this man to Satan" so his spirit may be saved "in the day of the Lord".
I have a few comments here.
First, why "father's wife"? why not "mother"? This is just strange terminology.
Second, he just said not to judge last chapter, and yet here he is judging when he isn't even there.
Third, what does delivering him to Satan mean? It sounds like he is saying kill him and send him to hell, but I think that might be based on the modern take on things. For if you sent him to hell in the way we think about it, he would never be saved.
You shouldn't boast.
Agreed.
When I said not to associate with sexually immoral people, I am not saying that you cannot associate with outsiders who don't follow our rules, for this would restrict all contact with outsiders. But you should not associate with those inside the church who do these things. You shouldn't judge outsiders, that is for God to do, but cleanse the church from within.
Again, he is saying to judge right after he said not to judge.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
1 Corinthians 4
The Ministry of Apostles
We should be regarded as servants of Christ, and therefore we need to be found trustworthy. But what is it to judge us? A person cannot judge us, it is hard for me to judge even myself, for I find nothing wrong with me. God is the real judge, he will shine a light on things which are hidden in the darkness.
Strange, he starts by saying that he needs to be found trustworthy, and then says that it is basically impossible for humans to determine who is trustworthy and who is not. He also seems to be focusing on the negative side of judgement, although that is probably due to the group he is addressing and the message he is highlighting.
I have applied these ideas to myself, but that was just for illustration, they should be applied to you as well. It is just as hard for you to judge yourself as it is for me to judge myself.
Good strategy. Apply the lesson to someone else first so the audience member can view it without bias, then say to apply it to themselves as well. Also, the idea that it is hard to judge is a good one, you shouldn't be quick to judge, whether it is judging other people poorly or yourself well. Although the message here seems to be not to do it at all, where I think a more reasonable message would be to tread lightly. Know that you will probably judge yourself too highly and others too lowly, and try to adjust accordingly.
You are all rich and we are poor, you are strong and we are weak. Some times we are treated poorly, and only return kindness. You have many guides in Christ but few fathers. I am your father in Christ through the scripture, please use me as a role model.
The message seems to be for the rich to not abuse their power and to treat the poor well. Again, good message. Although to be honest, it feels like I'm missing a whole thing here.
We should be regarded as servants of Christ, and therefore we need to be found trustworthy. But what is it to judge us? A person cannot judge us, it is hard for me to judge even myself, for I find nothing wrong with me. God is the real judge, he will shine a light on things which are hidden in the darkness.
Strange, he starts by saying that he needs to be found trustworthy, and then says that it is basically impossible for humans to determine who is trustworthy and who is not. He also seems to be focusing on the negative side of judgement, although that is probably due to the group he is addressing and the message he is highlighting.
I have applied these ideas to myself, but that was just for illustration, they should be applied to you as well. It is just as hard for you to judge yourself as it is for me to judge myself.
Good strategy. Apply the lesson to someone else first so the audience member can view it without bias, then say to apply it to themselves as well. Also, the idea that it is hard to judge is a good one, you shouldn't be quick to judge, whether it is judging other people poorly or yourself well. Although the message here seems to be not to do it at all, where I think a more reasonable message would be to tread lightly. Know that you will probably judge yourself too highly and others too lowly, and try to adjust accordingly.
You are all rich and we are poor, you are strong and we are weak. Some times we are treated poorly, and only return kindness. You have many guides in Christ but few fathers. I am your father in Christ through the scripture, please use me as a role model.
The message seems to be for the rich to not abuse their power and to treat the poor well. Again, good message. Although to be honest, it feels like I'm missing a whole thing here.
Monday, July 30, 2012
1 Corinthians 3
Divisions in the Church
You are infants in Christ, so I will feed your spirit with milk instead of solid food. When some of you say you follow Paul and other say they follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? Although you follow different people who follow God, ultimately you all follow God and that is what matters.
Seems to make sense, I guess one way to apply this idea is that different denominations should get along. My impression is that most do but some do argue with each other. As an outside it always looks silly.
If anyone is wise in this age, let him become a fool so he can become wise, for God catches the wise in their craftiness.
So being wise and crafty are the same? Also, the wise should become a fool to then become wise? I'm assuming the first wise is of the world and the second is wise about God or something. But the writing is terrible, is this a translation issue?
You are infants in Christ, so I will feed your spirit with milk instead of solid food. When some of you say you follow Paul and other say they follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? Although you follow different people who follow God, ultimately you all follow God and that is what matters.
Seems to make sense, I guess one way to apply this idea is that different denominations should get along. My impression is that most do but some do argue with each other. As an outside it always looks silly.
If anyone is wise in this age, let him become a fool so he can become wise, for God catches the wise in their craftiness.
So being wise and crafty are the same? Also, the wise should become a fool to then become wise? I'm assuming the first wise is of the world and the second is wise about God or something. But the writing is terrible, is this a translation issue?
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Why can't I do that on the Sabbath?
I used to live in a neighborhood that had a fairly large Jewish population, so on Saturdays there was usually a large number of them out walking around. One Saturday, I was out walking my dog listening to podcasts through my phone and I realized that if I was part of that community I could not do it as using electronics on that day would not be allowed. It got me thinking about what the purpose of the sabbath really is.
I had always understood the sabbath to be a day of rest, one day of the week where you are not supposed to work. That makes a lot of sense to me, everyone should get at least one day off a week, otherwise you burn yourself out and go a little crazy. Having it as a rule seems like a good idea. Also, having a specific day off rather than just having one day off a week is good as it will let people spend their day off together. It also seems like a good "for your own good" rule for the workaholics among us. So the general idea of it I like.
But then problems come in when it is taken to the extreme. As I said up top, I was simply listening to a show on my phone, and this would not have been allowed. This seems totally crazy to me, it is something I do to relax, it is something I enjoy doing, there is no way in which I would call it work. And yet, it would not be allowed on the day of rest. It seems to me that there has been a disconnect between the intention of the rule and the execution of it.
Another thought occurred to me, on the sabbath you are not supposed to drive your car or use your phone, what happens if there is some kind of emergency? Say your kid falls down the stairs or otherwise hurts himself? You can't use your phone to call an ambulance or your car to drive him to the hospital yourself. What are you supposed to do? I assume most people will just say 'fuck it' and do one of those things anyway, but according to Jewish law what are they supposed to do?
I had always understood the sabbath to be a day of rest, one day of the week where you are not supposed to work. That makes a lot of sense to me, everyone should get at least one day off a week, otherwise you burn yourself out and go a little crazy. Having it as a rule seems like a good idea. Also, having a specific day off rather than just having one day off a week is good as it will let people spend their day off together. It also seems like a good "for your own good" rule for the workaholics among us. So the general idea of it I like.
But then problems come in when it is taken to the extreme. As I said up top, I was simply listening to a show on my phone, and this would not have been allowed. This seems totally crazy to me, it is something I do to relax, it is something I enjoy doing, there is no way in which I would call it work. And yet, it would not be allowed on the day of rest. It seems to me that there has been a disconnect between the intention of the rule and the execution of it.
Another thought occurred to me, on the sabbath you are not supposed to drive your car or use your phone, what happens if there is some kind of emergency? Say your kid falls down the stairs or otherwise hurts himself? You can't use your phone to call an ambulance or your car to drive him to the hospital yourself. What are you supposed to do? I assume most people will just say 'fuck it' and do one of those things anyway, but according to Jewish law what are they supposed to do?
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Fear of Death
I have been thinking about death a fair bit lately and I realized that I no longer have a fear of death. I used to be terrified of dying, when I realized I haven't had that kind of fear in a long time it was a bit of a surprise to me. I have been trying to analyze the possible reasons for this and the only real credible one I can think of is my lack of religion.
When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time talking about heaven and hell. Good people go to heaven and experience eternal bliss and bad people go to hell an get tortured for eternity. We were the right religion, we believed in God, we let Jesus into our hearts, so we were going to heaven. I believed these things, so one would think that I would be comfortable with death, but I was not.
The other side of this coin is that bad people go to hell. When my church talked about how bad hell is, they usually focused on rapists and murderers, people who it is easy to accept that they are getting justice. On the other hand, during other times, the pastors would talk about how we are all sinners and all deserve to go to hell. But through the grace of God, we get to go to heaven anyway when we accept Jesus.
So I have this rolling around in my head. I have been told that I deserve to burn in hell forever. I am a bad person. There is a loophole that lets me get into heaven anyway, but the message is there, I am a bad person and I deserve to be tortured. I lived in a fairly strong cultural bubble growing up, but I was vaguely aware that there are other religions with other rules out there. What if our version of Christianity is the wrong one? What if what we are doing to get into heaven isn't quite right? What if I die and wind up in hell? I don't think these questions were ever fully formed in my mind, but the ideas were there under the surface.
I think my fear of death was always really a fear of hell. Now that I don't believe in hell, there is no reason to be afraid of death. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die, I'd like to live as long as possible. And I am not looking forward to the process of dying, many ways of dying can be very slow and painful. But in comparison to being tortured forever, there is nothing to be afraid of.
When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time talking about heaven and hell. Good people go to heaven and experience eternal bliss and bad people go to hell an get tortured for eternity. We were the right religion, we believed in God, we let Jesus into our hearts, so we were going to heaven. I believed these things, so one would think that I would be comfortable with death, but I was not.
The other side of this coin is that bad people go to hell. When my church talked about how bad hell is, they usually focused on rapists and murderers, people who it is easy to accept that they are getting justice. On the other hand, during other times, the pastors would talk about how we are all sinners and all deserve to go to hell. But through the grace of God, we get to go to heaven anyway when we accept Jesus.
So I have this rolling around in my head. I have been told that I deserve to burn in hell forever. I am a bad person. There is a loophole that lets me get into heaven anyway, but the message is there, I am a bad person and I deserve to be tortured. I lived in a fairly strong cultural bubble growing up, but I was vaguely aware that there are other religions with other rules out there. What if our version of Christianity is the wrong one? What if what we are doing to get into heaven isn't quite right? What if I die and wind up in hell? I don't think these questions were ever fully formed in my mind, but the ideas were there under the surface.
I think my fear of death was always really a fear of hell. Now that I don't believe in hell, there is no reason to be afraid of death. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die, I'd like to live as long as possible. And I am not looking forward to the process of dying, many ways of dying can be very slow and painful. But in comparison to being tortured forever, there is nothing to be afraid of.
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