Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
But back to the actual topic concerning elders, it would seem that you simply distrust the entire account as reflecting something positive from God.
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I wouldn't have used that exact phrasing but I'll accept it.
I'd have said the fact that events and statements are recorded in the New Testament is not de facto proof that they are things to emulate, as some certainly negative events and statements are also preserved. And the fact that generation after generation of sincere followers of the Christian religion have viewed a certain matter as positive is not sufficient evidence to me that it should forever be considered in the traditional manner.
I thank you for making out the case for orthodoxy. I believe I might do the same if I tried, as could most hereabouts. This is a pretty learned group by and large. And I think most would agree that whether or not I'm personally a footwasher isn't germane. So I guess I'm wondering what purpose your response serves other than to highlight my budding heterodoxy. I think aron already made an excellent point about our brains and the risk of becoming shipwrecked so if this is your expression of concern, take heart.
Someone elsewhere recently used the word "hagiography" to identify problems with the LC and the RCC, both, and justifiably so, in my opinion.
I don't view equality with God as a matter to be grasped but I might aspire to become like Paul and James and John and Peter, men who put their sandals on one foot at a time just like me. You and I make mistakes and are motivated by things that aren't even available to us on a conscious level. I see no reason to believe that those earliest believers were any different in this regard. My goal has nothing to do with finding fault but rather with explaining the actions of persons who I know only incompletely through a partial written record that's been dinked by the ravages of time and mushed through various translational filters, including my own. I'm seeking an explanation for matters that to me seem largely inexplicable in context and I'm not content with a pat "well it just is" while my interest continues happily working through various topics.
Perhaps the choosing of the 7 was a glorious decision by resplendent angelic beings.
Perhaps not.
I'd prefer to read someone's considerations of the topic because I'm really very lazy but I'm not familiar with anyone faithfully asking such a question.
Are you?
And surely whether or not the choosing of the 7 was a mistake is not a major point of faith anyways, so my heterodoxy is still within permissible boundaries even if I were to fault them, no?
What do you think, aron?
Am I too much?
This is your thread, after all...