{"id":4983,"date":"2015-04-24T02:58:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T20:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelligent-torvalds.74-208-171-134.plesk.page\/?p=4983"},"modified":"2023-09-10T17:56:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T22:56:43","slug":"my-reasons-and-my-reason-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/?p=4983","title":{"rendered":"My Reasons and My Reason, Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am persuaded that the primary meaning of \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1<\/a> in the New Testament refers to ancient idolatrous worship practices.\u00a0 It can be stretched to mean adultery<\/em> in general (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 NET Table<\/a>):<\/p>\n

For this is God\u2019s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1\u03c2 (a form of \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1)<\/em>, that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.\u00a0 In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the<\/a> Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier<\/a> and warned you solemnly.\u00a0 For God did not call us to impurity (\u1f00\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1<\/a>)<\/em> but in holiness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At least I hope Paul meant that one should not violate the rights of his brother by committing adultery with his wife, rather than that he should simply pass by her at a cultic festival<\/a> (though I admit that \u1f00\u03ba\u03b1\u03b8\u03b1\u03c1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1 sounds a lot like demonic worship here).\u00a0 Paul may have used \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 to mean the list of sins found in Leviticus 18:6-23<\/a> (1 Corinthians 5:1<\/a> NET):<\/p>\n

It is actually reported that \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1<\/em> exists among you, the kind of \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1<\/em> that is not permitted<\/a> even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with (\u1f14\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, a form of \u1f14\u03c7\u03c9<\/a>)<\/em> his father\u2019s wife.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the man\u2019s father was alive this is simply another instance where Paul used \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 for adultery<\/em>.\u00a0 (Remember \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 was almost the only word Paul had for sin as long as he accepted<\/a> the gutting of the law<\/a> at the Jerusalem Council<\/a>.)\u00a0 If the man\u2019s father was dead \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 meant: You must not have sexual intercourse with your father\u2019s wife; she is your father\u2019s nakedness<\/em>[1]<\/sup><\/a> or, A man may not marry his father\u2019s former wife and in this way dishonor his father<\/em>.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

In contemporary Greek \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 translates as prostitution<\/em> in the headline \u03a0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1<\/a>.\u00a0 If I select \u201cTranslate this Page\u201d \u03a0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1<\/a> is rendered \u201cChild prostitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one thing I am persuaded now that \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 does not mean in the New Testament is what two teenagers might do in the backseat of a Chevy on a Friday night.\u00a0 They are not committing \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 but marriage by performing the only wedding ceremony ye<\/sup>h\u00f4v\u00e2h<\/a> <\/em>\u02bc<\/em>\u0115l\u00f4h\u0131\u0302ym<\/a><\/em> ever created, authorized or honored: If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and has sexual relations with her, he must surely endow her to be his wife. \u00a0If her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay money for the bride price of virgins<\/em>.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

When I was young it angered me that God gave such undue authority to an autocratic father.\u00a0 Now that I know Him better and have lived with, and loved, a daughter, though the autocratic father may always be a possible type, I think the point was to give that authority to the one most attuned to his daughter\u2019s heart on the matter in an uncomfortable social situation.\u00a0 One reason for rejecting this law is the embarrassment a contemporary person feels over its companion legislation (Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 NET):<\/p>\n

Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered [Table<\/a>]<\/em>. \u00a0The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives [Table<\/a>]<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>A scene in the movie \u201cFury<\/a>\u201d cast this legislation in a different light.\u00a0 In April 1945, days from the end of the war in Europe, First Sergeant Collier\u2014Wardaddy\u2014an American tank commander, spies a woman peeking down at them from an upstairs window in the German town they have just conquered.\u00a0 Wardaddy calls to Norman, Private Ellison, and the two men, armed with machine guns, head inside and up the stairs.\u00a0 I have every reason to assume that Wardaddy is continuing Norman\u2019s indoctrination into the ways of war.<\/p>\n

Norman, a clerk trained to type 60 words per minute, was assigned to Wardaddy\u2019s tank crew as a replacement assistant driver.\u00a0 His failure and refusal to pull the trigger endangers the rest of his crew and everyone around him.\u00a0 Wardaddy has already forced him to kill a German prisoner in a macabre hand-over-hand imitation of a mother teaching a child to form letters with a crayon.\u00a0 I can only imagine what new lesson Wardaddy has in store for him, though the two German women have no illusions that they are anything to their armed invaders but spoils of war.<\/p>\n

Wardaddy puts down his weapon, and tells Norman to do likewise, once he has determined that the two women are the only occupants of the apartment.\u00a0 It\u2019s a clear sign to the women, beautiful young Emma and her older cousin, that they may survive their ordeal if they comply with Wardaddy\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

Wardaddy wishes to wash with hot water, shave and eat a fried egg.\u00a0 Norman plays a piece of sheet music at the piano.\u00a0 Emma, delighted, sings the song and turns the page for him.\u00a0 She stops when she notices the scars on Wardaddy\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a good clean girl,\u201d Wardaddy says to Norman.\u00a0 \u201cIf you don\u2019t take her in that bedroom, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma doesn\u2019t need a translator to know what\u2019s expected of her.\u00a0 Given the opportunity to choose her rapist, she leads her young accompanist into the bedroom.\u00a0 Norman retrieves his machine gun on the way.\u00a0 Emma\u2019s older cousin attempts to follow them, whether to intervene or to serve as a substitute is unclear.\u00a0 Wardaddy stops her with a gesture and a word in German:<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. \u00a0They\u2019re young and they\u2019re alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a rapist Norman is patient and gentle as a lover.\u00a0 He and Emma, representing the human beings least degraded by war, exit that bedroom as husband and wife.\u00a0 They know it.\u00a0 Wardaddy knows it.\u00a0 And so does Emma\u2019s older cousin.\u00a0 As they sit down to a wedding feast of fried eggs the rest of his tank crew\u2014Coon-Ass, Gordo and Bible\u2014knock at the door, calling for Norman.<\/p>\n

Coon-Ass and Gordo have cajoled or coerced a \u201cwhore\u201d to \u201centertain\u201d them, and others, one at a time in the tank downstairs.\u00a0 They have come to share her with Norman.\u00a0 I get the impression that if Norman were not already married to Emma, Coon-Ass and Gordo would make it very difficult for him to refuse his share.\u00a0 But seeing Emma, Coon-Ass in particular, representing the man most degraded by war, wants his share of her.\u00a0 Now, however, even Coon-Ass isn\u2019t likely to take her without Norman\u2019s acquiescence.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t touch her!\u201d Norman says with the all the force of a petulant child.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone touches the girl,\u201d Wardaddy says, putting not only his rank but his personal power and authority on the line, \u201cthey get their teeth kicked in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coon-Ass and Gordo are deeply hurt.\u00a0 Even Bible, though apparently powerful enough in the pecking order to abstain from the women without suffering personal repercussions, is hurt to have been excluded from the wedding feast.\u00a0 They remind Wardaddy that they have been together, brothers in arms, since the Normandy invasion.\u00a0 Norman has not.<\/p>\n

I suspect that Wardaddy would not have denied his brothers, Coon-Ass and Gordo, if they had gotten to Emma first.\u00a0 He, as degraded by war as any of them, could not risk his rank, personal power or authority except for Norman\u2019s or, if necessary, his own new bride.<\/p>\n

And for those who think it might have been a better film, or Emma might have been a better woman, if she had fought to the death to defend her honor, a stray shell kills her in the next scene.\u00a0 Norman grieves like a widower, though duty calls and limits his opportunity to do her justice.<\/p>\n

If one or both of the teenagers in the Chevy come back Saturday night to perform the same ceremony with different partners, they would be guilty of adultery as long as the other lives.\u00a0 The point was never to make adultery\u2014or divorce, for that matter\u2014the unpardonable sin.\u00a0 The point was to get religious people to acknowledge that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. \u00a0But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus<\/em>.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Other reasons for rejecting the view of marriage described in the law are 1) that a daughter who acted so precipitously may have robbed her father of a better bride price.\u00a0 Or, 2) in more contemporary terms she may rob herself of a more lucrative match.\u00a0 And 3) governing bodies, both secular and religious, want to regulate marriage.<\/p>\n

Do they have that right (Matthew 16:19; 18:18<\/a> NKJV)?<\/p>\n

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth\u00a0will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.<\/p>\n

Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven<\/a>, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This certainly sounds like Peter and James had the authority to gut the law.\u00a0 Were they the only ones?\u00a0 In the United States of America a woman is free to couple or uncouple as she pleases because she is \u201cendowed by [her] Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness\u2026\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 I often wonder why the lawyers, legal historians, philosophers and ministers who signed the Declaration of Independence didn\u2019t forsee that the pursuit of personal happiness would come to dominate and define both life<\/em> and liberty<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been taught to think like John Miller in his March 7, 2015 response to comments and an essay on happiness<\/em> on blog.dictionary.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Everyone here really doesn\u2019t understand the colonial meaning of the phrase. \u00a0Pursuit of happiness referred to the pursuit of holiness or godliness. \u00a0It had nothing to do with personal pleasures. \u00a0Our founders understood that morality and religion were required for a republic to succeed and in those times when someone pursued happiness it was a pursuit of that which is godly. \u00a0Sadly, that\u2019s something very few Americans do these days and will be the source of our nation\u2019s demise.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the Declaration of Independence did not say \u201cthat all men are\u2026endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are\u201d the pursuit of Christ and his righteousness.\u00a0 It said, \u201cpursuit of Happiness.\u201d\u00a0 And I think I can say on the authority of Scripture and a bare knowledge of American history that \u201cthe pursuit of Christ and his righteousness\u201d would never have gained consensus.<\/p>\n

That, I think, is what I witness in both the Jerusalem Council and the Declaration of Independence.\u00a0 They are prime examples of the achievements of committee work and consensus building.\u00a0 They happened.\u00a0 They are there for all to see.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe these particular results of either exercise.\u00a0 They are not my faith.\u00a0 I think what Jesus meant was that those who trust Him would be led by his Holy Spirit (Matthew 16:19; 18:18 NET):<\/p>\n

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. \u00a0Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.<\/p>\n

I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One of the ways to know what has been bound and released in heaven is to know God\u2019s law, not because one is declared righteous before him<\/em> by the works of the law<\/em> but because the law discloses what displeases Him: through the law comes the knowledge of sin<\/em>.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>I should clarify my thoughts on happiness<\/em>: I had my ticket home.\u00a0 I was ready to go.\u00a0 I would have been happy to sit and watch my daughter\u2019s graduation ceremony from college.\u00a0 But my twenty-three-year-old daughter had a stroke before I arrived.\u00a0 Then I was happy to sit and watch as she chewed food and swallowed without choking on it.<\/p>\n

I am grateful for happiness.\u00a0 I think it is essential to the ongoing occupation of living here and now.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t have a clue how to pursue it.\u00a0 When I\u2019ve tried, the people, achievements, occupations and possessions I thought would make me happy, did not, not any more or any less than the normal ebb and flow of when I had not pursued happiness.\u00a0 I will pursue Christ and his righteousness instead.<\/p>\n

And to the wag who may say I only do that because it makes me happy, I can honestly answer, not always, my friend, at times it is a sad or a painful thing to do.\u00a0 Still, it has its moments.<\/p>\n

\n
My Reasons and My Reason, Part 8<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to David’s Forgiveness, Part 6<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to Condemnation or Judgment? – Part 12<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/a>[1]<\/sup> Leviticus 18:8 (NET) Table<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[2]<\/sup> Deuteronomy 22:30 (NET)<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3]<\/sup> Exodus 22:16, 17 (NET)<\/p>\n

<\/a>[4]<\/sup> Romans 3:23, 24 (NET)<\/p>\n

<\/a>[5]<\/sup> Declaration of Independence<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[6]<\/sup> Romans 3:20 (NET)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am persuaded that the primary meaning of \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u1f77\u03b1 in the New Testament refers to ancient idolatrous worship practices.\u00a0 It can be stretched to mean adultery in general (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 NET Table): For this is God\u2019s will: that you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2272,2719],"tags":[172,2797,958,2798,2323,150,2800,2210,2801,83,2799],"class_list":["post-4983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-reasons-and-my-reason","category-section-three","tag-1-corinthians-51","tag-1-thessalonians-43-7","tag-deuteronomy-2228-29","tag-deuteronomy-2230","tag-exodus-2216-17","tag-leviticus-188","tag-matthew-1619","tag-matthew-1818","tag-movies-fury","tag-romans-320","tag-romans-323-24"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4983"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21809,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4983\/revisions\/21809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}