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How does Scripture define the left (Progressives) from the right (conservatives)?
- Thread starter 2ndpillar
- Start date
The metaphor in the verse seems to me an example of the age-old notion that the left direction is associated with evil, inauspiciousness, bad omens, etc. For instance, consider the etymology of the word sinister:
Definition of SINISTER
singularly evil or productive of evil; accompanied by or leading to disaster; presaging ill fortune or trouble… See the full definition
A similar association can be seen in the Qur'an, such as in 56:41:
Qur'an 56:41 said:
Surah Al-Waqi'ah - 1-96 - Quran.com
Read and listen to Surah Al-Waqi'ah. The Surah was revealed in Mecca, ordered 56 in the Quran. The Surah title means "The Inevitable" in English and c...
I don't think the metaphor, whether in the Bible or the Qur'an, has any relation to modern partisan politics. It merely draws on the association of the left direction with negative outcomes or omens and the right direction with positive ones.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
The concept of left vs. right politics didn't exist in ancient Judea, so the insinuation is imbecilic.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
It's why left-handed people were given a hard time in the past.The metaphor in the verse seems to me an example of the age-old notion that the left direction is associated with evil, inauspiciousness, bad omens, etc. For instance, consider the etymology of the word sinister:
Definition of SINISTER
singularly evil or productive of evil; accompanied by or leading to disaster; presaging ill fortune or trouble… See the full definitionwww.merriam-webster.com
A similar association can be seen in the Qur'an, such as in 56:41:
Surah Al-Waqi'ah - 1-96 - Quran.com
Read and listen to Surah Al-Waqi'ah. The Surah was revealed in Mecca, ordered 56 in the Quran. The Surah title means "The Inevitable" in English and c...quran.com
I don't think the metaphor, whether in the Bible or the Qur'an, has any relation to modern partisan politics. It merely draws on the association of the left direction with negative outcomes or omens and the right direction with positive ones.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
...and besides, Jesus would be considered progressive left or "woke socialist" by today's standards. Rightwing ideology is completely antithetical to the teachings and examples of Christ.
Is the purpose of this thread a lesson in how people interpret their scriptures to promote their own personal agendas?
I think the right means in this to that what is good, true and just.
From Left-Handed Benjaminites and the Shadow of Saul
The idea that the right is pure and the left is profane in Middle Eastern culture is related to the use of left hand to “refresh” oneself after using the toilet. Hence, it is taboo to eat with the left hand in this culture. Indeed, a Sumerian passage containing instructions on baking bread even tells the reader to keep the left hand away when making dough. Likewise in the tale of the marriage of Enlil and Ninlil, Enlil, believing Ninlil to be a prostitute (i.e., an impure person) offers her a present with his left—impure—hand.
The two sides, hence, are distinguished and imbued with binary meanings in the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Near Eastern texts. The right hand is associated with sacrality, activity, purity, creativity, life, protection, morality, honor, wisdom, inheritance, consecration, and blessing. The left, though it is not directly stated, is associated with the opposite connotations: passivity, impurity, death, violence, threat, dishonor, profanity, desecration, darkness, secrecy, and the accursed. Interestingly, the disproportionate number of occurrences of the word “right” as opposed to “left” in the biblical text might also stem from negative meanings associated with the left. Since in some cultures the word “left” was even viewed as a curse word, the description of the Benjaminites as not “lefties” but “bound on the right side” may be a deliberate attempt to avoid this dirty term.
Is this where left handed people became vilified, and for ... who knowns how long ... these people were forced to become right handed?
What more left/right nonsense came from interpreting the Bible wrong?
Then it has nothing to do with conservative (right wing) politics.
I believe it more to do with the Christian references to the ‘Mano sinistre’ - the story of the Roman soldier using his left hand to pound the nails into Jesus on the cross. Another Christian legacy that led to left handed people being demonized, and even killed.
I can understand that the Progressives have a hard time in objective observations, but it they have children in the house, they should ask them the difference between a hand and a heart.
Wait!!! I know this one!!!!!
Never mind. I the answer was on the tip of my tongue...but it slipped away.
I no longer have children in the house, so I may never know.
Oh wait...I forgot I'm not a progressive.
You forgot to mention that a Benjamite Saul morphed into another, now named Paul, who is the father of all things to all people, as in a double minded Pharisee of Phariesies, the god of politicians, whose followers use the directions stemming from their own twisted hearts, which is called the gospel of grace/cross, whereas someone else is supposed to bear all their burdens, much as in Progressive socialism. As they all get sick and die, I don't think that wide path to destruction works (Mt 7:12-15), nor does taking from others to fill one's own needs. (10th Commandment)
Ecclesiastes was inspired by the Spirit of God, who knew the beginning and the end, and apparently emphasized with regards to the coming end, the kingdom of heaven, which will be when the left/lawless/wicked are gathered out and thrown into the furnace of fire, and then the righteous, the right, will be gathered to show their light. (Matthew 13:30 & 40-44 & 49-50).
Matthew 13: 49 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
Dr. Seuss, Green Eggs and Ham "I will not eat them in a house, I will not eat them with a mouse, I will not eat them in a box I will not eat them with a fox, I will not eat them here of there I will not eat them anywhere, I do not like green eggs and ham i do not like them Sam I Am"
But I kinda love the implication of @2ndpillar 's argument: that the French Revolution - where the left/right political divide was established - was ordained by God thousands of years earlier. I find this idea hilarious.
The "teachings"/message of the "son of man"/Yeshua, was that you must keep the Commandments (Mt 19:16-19), in which he listed for those who don't know the OT, and the 10th Commandments is that one is not to covet their neighbors goods, which is antithetical to the Progressive Marxist message, which would be categorized in Matthew 13:25, as the "message" of the "enemy"/"devil", which is for those who "commit lawlessness", and make their own individual subjective moral interpretations. Their end is to be gathered and thrown into the "furnace of fire" at the "end of the age" (Mt 13:30). As for the specific message of Yeshua Mt 19, it was to keep the Commandments, and leave your neighbor's property alone, but if you want to become perfect, sell all you have and give it to the poor, and then follow me. The example of modern-day Progressive Marxist, like the BLM leadership, and socialist Senate member, is to live high on the hog, and own multiple houses, and of course not be perfect, as in the case of the trained BLM Marxist leader, is to not pay their income taxes, in which that money was supposedly to be used to support their socialist programs.
Matthew: 19:16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” 17And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS; 19HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 20The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” 21Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.
I guess nobody ever pointed out to you that the Apostles were communist, eh?
Acts 2:44-45
44 All who believed were together and held[cr] everything in common, 45 and they began selling[cs] their property[ct] and possessions and distributing the proceeds[cu] to everyone, as anyone had need.