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Hi Peter/Martin:
Sorry for the tardy response, but while I was
compressing my emails, something happened to them, and I had to search for them
to find them.
Peter, you said:
"There is not thought at
all in the New Testament towards creating new laws
or setting up a seperate
governed society."
But when the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they
gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a
question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?" And He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great
and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the
Prophets." (Matthew 22:34-40)
Jesus' birth, life, and resurection were the fulfillment of the Law, and
God's covenant with the tribes of Israel.
The example that you give Martin of turning the other cheek; although a
statement made by Jesus, was never intended to be a law in my opinion.
It is my contention, that politics and religion are two seperate matters
(Render unto Caesar). To me, Jesus came to bring forth a new religion, not
brought about through compulsion of laws set out in the old testament, but
brought forth through rebirth of the spirit. In my opinion, all attempts
to subjegate morality/religion through force of law is tyranny, and the only
reason we should have laws is the protection of God given rights (life, liberty,
and pursuit of hapiness).
Peter, you also said, "given the plethora of
interpretations and
doctrines who needs to tamper with it?"
Do you really
think that adultresses should be taken to the wall and stoned as in
Leviticus?
Theology, and
the discussion here, is merely an opinion on scripture, and I must note that
these are merely my opinions. And in my opinion, everyone takes a
different course to God, and one's relationship with God is strictly personal,
never should Government enforce religious dogma. In my opinion, that is
the essence of "practical Christianity". Man is not saved through force of
law, but through love and faith in God.
Take
care,
Jim
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The Monopoly of Cr
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