Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Acts, Romans

Acts 26:23
What about those that Jesus himself brought back from the dead?
Romans 1:26-27
"Natural" relations. What exactly is a "natural" relation? In these verses, the words dishonorable, shameless, and unnatural can only be shown to be subjective value judgments, and not, as Paul clearly intends, descriptions of acts which break the laws of "nature". Homosexuality is a part of the natural condition of homo sapiens, as it is with many other vertebrates. Homosexuality can be a clearly beneficial part of vertebrate existence, for social group bonding or when the male/female ratio in a particular population becomes unbalanced. To allege that homosexuality is a violation of nature is patently ludicrous to anyone who has undertaken a serious study of nature. And to propose that the supreme being, or one of It's agents, could spout such idiocy...
Romans 7:18-20
The problem with these verses, as with many of the surrounding ones, is that they set up some heavy rationalization which on the surface seems quite illogical. Not necessarily unreasonable, mind you. Suppose that a person had committed murder, but claimed to be not guilty because "sin" had caused the murder. Or suppose a child lied to you, but claimed innocence because "sin" actually committed the lie. Could you intuitively or logically ascribe to these people no guilt or responsibility? Paul may have had the best of intentions in trying to separate the soul, or mind, from the flesh. But verse 18 simply sounds like the weak pleading of someone trying to rationalize those parts of their biological nature they're personally uncomfortable with.
Romans 9:15-19
Is this, then, the Bible's ultimate answer to the unjustness of many of God's past punishments? There is at least an admirable straightforwardness here. These verses proclaim, without equivocation, that God is not (and indeed has no interest in being) just. Unfortunately, that flies smack in the face of one of the central assumptions of this study. Are there those among us who have no problem with a god who is "perfectly" unfair? If so, can such self-abnegating subservience be sourced from anything other than self-loathing?
Romans 10:14-21
So these verses mean that those who have never physically heard the word of Christ actually HAVE heard, and are spiritually accountable? Whew. Sorry, Mr. Cambodian farmer born in 207 A.D., but you and your neighbors are in a reeeal bad place. What's that, you've never heard of Jesus? You fool, why did you have your Ipod on that afternoon?? That's okay, it's God's will. Don't complain, things are tough all over. Sigh. Forgive my less than austere tone, but Mr. Cambodian farmer born in 207 A.D. had his own headaches as he was ignoring "the word of Jesus on the wind". Ought we start euthanizing people who are capable of the kind of blind presumption and absolute arrogance needed to ascribe truth to words like these, if indeed there are any left?

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