...continued
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WHAT MORAL ADVICE DID JESUS GIVE?
Matt 19:12 - clearly says that if you don't like it don't do it. I fail to see the hypocrisy.
Matt 5:29-30 - we can take it literally if we like; did he demand any of the disciples do this? Apparantly not.
Matt 5:32 - In those days you could divorce your wife by giving her a slip of paper that said so. She could be left with nothing. It happened often when woman were getting on a bit and men were looking for a younger lass to warm their bed. This therefore was an appeal to social justice.
Matt 6:34 - does not say 'do not plan', it says 'do not worry'. Big diff'. Here in Australia we have long had the saying 'no worries', which is about attitude, not logistics. Sometimes I think Jesus was an Aussie.
Matt 6:19-20 - this is not saying outright not to save money no matter what, it was a teaching about attitude. The author conveniently leaves out verse 21 which completes the context: "For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.." And Proverbs tells us to multiply our money.
Mark 10:21-25 - this does not say don't become wealthy, again it's about where your heart is; this is a commonly misinterpreted scripture, and many, as is the case here, leave out verse 27: "..with man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." God first, money second. Simple. I fail to see the hypocrisy.
Luke 12:33 - this appears to specifically be instruction given to the disciples (v22); they were on the most serious mission in history and focusing on their money would only distract them from the job. Note also that he promises treasure in heaven, so he is not against treasure.
John 6:27 - The context here was focusing on God. It was clearly a figure of speech or the crowd would have pointed it out.
Matt 5:28 - this is clearly refering to intent. Sexual urges and responses are built-in by God, and marriages wouldn't work without them. Talk about taking things out of context.
Matt 5:11 - says absolutely nothing about MAKING people persecute us deliberately. False claim.
Matt 5:13-16 - does not say to let others think we are better; letting light shine means not being afraid to be a nice person in front of those who scoff at such things. The context Jesus laid down in many places is one of humility and becoming a servant, not big noting ourselves. This claim betrays some really poor scholarship.
Luke 19:23-26 - apart from being a parable, the author is not paying attention here: there is really only one investor in the story, and many brokers
Luke 6:30 - this is a teaching under the radical 'love your enemy' concept, but it does not make Jesus a hypocrite. And again it must be taken in context: earlier in the article Jesus is cited as overturning the money-changers tables, so the author should know very well that Jesus himself was willing to take on theives! Luke 6:30 therefore is in the context of love, but to a degree that is consistent within an overall responsible approach. For those who do allow others to get away with doing bad things where doing so is going to have an effect on those doing the bad thing then do it, but this is not the same as deliberately being a 'soft touch'.
As for Matt 5:39, Matt 5:40, Matt 5:41, Matt 5:42 etc, the principle just mentioned applies.
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WAS JESUS RELIABLE?
Matt 16:28 - many believe that the following chapter was a fullfillment of this, often based on the use of the Greek word HORAO for 'see'.
"He mistakenly claimed that the mustard seed is "the least of all seeds" (Matt. 13:32) " - It was the smallest seed known to his audience. I fail to see any hypocrisy.
"and that salt could "lose its savor" (Matthew 5:13). " And it's another metaphor. And while sodium chloride is what it is, salt wasn't always pure in those days, and if it became too contaminated it was thrown out, not that any of this changes the meaning of the metaphor.
Trying to equate Matt 5:22 with Matt 23:17 is to once again miss the context, in this case, the problem of judging someone, which is obvious from the surrounding verses.
Trying to equate John 5:31 with John 8:14 is to yet again miss the context, in this case 5:31 is refering to a type of testimony which was given by John the Baptist. Jesus then clearly says in verse 36 that he has an additional testimony. 8:54 is simply saying that whether it comes from him or not it is still valid to him, which is all that matters as far as his mission goes.
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WAS JESUS A GOOD EXAMPLE?
Matt 21:18-19 - this is similar to the pigs: he owned the cycle of life and death for plants too; this would have been a good example to the disciples that he meant what he said about getting rid of 'plants' that don't produce 'fruit'.
Mark 2:23 - here Jesus showed an understanding of the law that exceeded that of the other experts of his day, and was evidenced by him getting the better of them in the ensuing discussion.
Matt 21 - this chapter shows Jesus claim to authority regarding his reasons for taking the horse, which, as emmanuel, ultimately belonged to him anyway.
"The "humble" Jesus said that he was "greater than the temple" (Matt 12:6), "greater than Jonah" (Matthew 12:41), and "greater than Solomon" (Matthew 12:42). " He was humble, to the point of death. That doesn't mean he didn't have the right to emphasise certain truths when it was required.
"He appeared to suffer from a dictator's "paranoia" when he said, "He that is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30)." His brief was to intervene for
all humanity. He was the only person in history who could say such a thing with complete authority.
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The rest of the article is largely speculative and there exists umpteen threads on this forum that cover those other topics.
Sorry for these long posts.