Re: Adrian M/Claire J
People use scripture to define life and love when they should be using life and love to determine what scripture is. The question is more intended for hermeneutic scholars than myself. For me, when I read or listen to gospels, I ask myself what lesson is being taught. What is the purpose of the story? Many people think they must follow the Bible word for word because it was written by God. It was not. It was written by men who are imperfect and put their own twists and thoughts into their divinely inspired writings based on the society they lived in 2000 years ago. It has also been chopped up and edited by councils of men through the millenia to be the holy book that they want it to be. Why do you think there are so many different branches of Christianity? When I say that is not how God intended us to live, it is because that is what I feel Him telling me. When I pray? That is the message I get. We are meant to love one another.
The main underlying message of every religion out there is "Do not be an asshole." The people decide how that message is meant to be interpreted. The Bible has a verse that will justify any argument you may have, for or against specific arbitrary actions that may or may not be a sin. The message is what is important, not the wording. Wording can be made to mean anything with the right arguments, and there are plenty of words that have several meanings so the translations can be incorrect because someone wanted to use one word over another.