Here are 9 questions atheists probably find insulting — and the answers

[Politesse]

But I think poli is suggesting that it is only 'conservative christians' who think that 'thou shalt not kill' is 'just' a pragmatic rule, and not based on morals. I'm not sure if that's true. So yes, I think we are mainly talking about TCW (The Christian Worldview). There might be exceptions, but imo most of those, unless they don't actually believe in a rule-setting god, are merely trying hard to iron out contradictions.

My observation is more that what he is doing to the book - randomly combining verses from different books with different contexts and spinning his own story from them- is indeed something that a lot of Christians do, but it is piss-poor literary analysis. I think both conservatives and liberals would agree with me on that, despite having different ideas about what a more ideal hermeneutic would look like; the difference has more to do with education and experience than political bias.

There is no such thing as a "Christian Worldview", let alone a unified hermeneutic for interpreting Scirpture. We don't even all have the same Bible, how could we possibly all derive the exact same perspective from it? Who would have the power to enforce such a thing even if it did exist? If there's one thing Christians know how to do, it's schism.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Wow. It’s almost like there’s no singular guiding force behind the Bible and Christian theology.

 

[Politesse]

Wow. It’s almost like there’s no singular guiding force behind the Bible and Christian theology.

I tend to agree.

However, a conservative might disagree with your point here. It's not that they don't think there is any coherence to Scripture, but that "studying" the Bible by willy-nilly throwing together of passages to suit your own ends is not really studying at all, but more like a masturbatory art project. You don't truly approach the mind of God by remaking the book in your own image, and even the most conservative of seminaries will devote entire courses to the craft of correct Scriptural exegesis.

 

[DBT]

But I think poli is suggesting that it is only 'conservative christians' who think that 'thou shalt not kill' is 'just' a pragmatic rule, and not based on morals. I'm not sure if that's true. So yes, I think we are mainly talking about TCW (The Christian Worldview). There might be exceptions, but imo most of those, unless they don't actually believe in a rule-setting god, are merely trying hard to iron out contradictions.

My observation is more that what he is doing to the book - randomly combining verses from different books with different contexts and spinning his own story from them- is indeed something that a lot of Christians do, but it is piss-poor literary analysis. I think both conservatives and liberals would agree with me on that, despite having different ideas about what a more ideal hermeneutic would look like; the difference has more to do with education and experience than political bias.

There is no such thing as a "Christian Worldview", let alone a unified hermeneutic for interpreting Scirpture. We don't even all have the same Bible, how could we possibly all derive the exact same perspective from it? Who would have the power to enforce such a thing even if it did exist? If there's one thing Christians know how to do, it's schism.

But there is a Christian World view, and it is based on the books of the bible. To be more precise, there is a diverse collection of Christian World views that are based on a collection of books that are cobbled together in a 'Bible'