During this time of the six weeks of Easter I find all sorts of writing and essays and quotations from the bible and other historical books. Most of them are accurate and without agenda. Excellent for gaining knowledge and meditation. Much needed after such a cold month. But, then again, there are those with an agenda other than spiritual growth.
If given the time and with effort I suppose anyone can find a biblical quotation to back their own, often time inaccurate opinion. All one has to do is take the subject matter out of context or change the punctuation. However, doing that does not alter the original meaning, it merely changes it into a false statement. In effect, concealing the teaching lesson of faith.
The statement that Jesus sat and dined with thieves, tax collectors and prostitutes is commonly used for a variety of reasons to prove one point or another. Maybe we are all guilty of that at one time or another. The thing that bothers me is that when someone used that statement to somehow legitimize a behavior which is illegal, immoral or goes against nature the statement is made to be inaccurate. Jesus, in no way condoned those particular behaviors or life styles by sitting or dining with those people. What the teaching was and is becomes very clear when we look at Jesus' teaching in those cases. He said: "Now go and sin no more." He did not say: " Gee guys, I don't care about you enough to tell you when you are doing wrong." You see Jesus did and does care enough to be with people that practise those things, He loves them, but that is not to say he loves any sin.
If quoting a sacred text I feel it is best to allow the true meaning to be seen. Especially if we are attempting to justify a particular behavior. "Now go and sin no more."
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