jester
LOL. Great idea.
Communication in spite of disagreement. No one could ask for anything better.
How have I been inconsistent? Yes I pick and choose as do you. i.e. homosexuality is evil or sinful on the basis of Leviticus but eating shellfish or pork is OK. The Bible is a culturally and era created book. It must be reinterpreted in light of modern knowledge and human experience over the years. i.e. we now know that illness is usually caused by pathogens or biological errors such as in epilepsy. It is not as a result of demon possession. We now understand better the nature of scriptural writing as well as the history of the Bible. We have the documents.
BTW There are many clergy and biblical scholars as well as theologians from whom I have been learning. I am not alone.
Your comments on Muhammad are simply wrong. A reading of Islamic history would clear that up. Islam is based on the same tenets as Judaism and Christianity as well as Hinduism and Buddhism etc.; justice and compassion. We cannot blame the extremists for what is happening today. We have them in Christianity as well; Robertson, Phelps etc. "The Great Transformation" by Karen Armstrong is an excellent book.
You don't like my interpretation of Matt 25 but a close and unbiased reading will bear it out. It is also the interpretation of hundreds of clergy and scholarly people. Now you may not think much of scholarship but without it the Bible as we know it today would not exist.
Waiting upon the Holy Spirit will help us in interpretation and discernment. This does not rule out other great Christian writers and thinkers. They have also been guided in what they think. Discernment is fine but anyone who thinks they have it exactly and that includes myself would be living in a delusion. We do not always know that we do not know.
Concerning the last comment it is known that the Japanese do not understand the Christian story. It is foreign to their culture and their way of thinking. Does God prepare the way? I would say yes but in the sense of my or your preparation to meet the cultural situation understanding that we may have to present our case in different ways. Thus we have the "Huron Christmas Carol".
This rather fits in I think. If we follow the line that God opens the eyes of folks to see then we have a segment of society that God has blinded so that they cannot see. This hardly fits in with the unconditional love of God--agape. Predestination says either you are or you are not thus we see again the end of free will.
Shalom
Ted