evesgrden
Posts: 597
Joined: 6/9/2012 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: JeffBC quote:
ORIGINAL: chatterbox24 Honestly Jeff I would have to study for awhile what you ask, I do not know. I am limited on that type of knowledge, but maybe one of the greater minds can attempt to give a view. But I will definitely study it, because it is quite an interesting question. I am no authority and I hope I am not coming off as one, because I certainly don't mean too. I'll ask around also. I think I actually have an ordained priest of something or another on my facebook friends and he's always been pretty knowledgeable. It's just sort of an interesting question that popped into my head as I was pondering this. I did a bit of googling and got some scholarly reviews on the relevant sections but "some scholarly reviews" when you're talking about the bible is really not good enough and the opinions are mixed. For instance, the immediate purpose of "render unto Caesar..." was taxation and gold coins. There is some debate about whether Jesus meant that to go beyond the one question of taxation. Yeah, I need a hardcore expert on this. Where's a jesuit priest when you need one? From what I've read, Jesus was being set up when asked about taxation/tribute. So he answers a question with a question: Whose image is inscribed on the coin?. Here's the catch: The coin has an image of Tiberius, and the writing around it identifies Tiberius as the son of the God Augustus. Implicitly the coin demands worship of another god, worship of a engraved/inscribed image (big bad no-no in the first tesatament... just ask Moses), but also implicit in Judaism is that everything of this earth belongs to God, including silver and diamonds and gold. He wasn't say "pay your taxes ", he implied quite cleverly that you can go ahead and offer to caesar what is caesar's... except when you get down to it, none of it belongs to ceasar, and everything belongs to God. I found that a very interesting interpretation, but it makes sense with his style of dealing with interrogation.. are you the son of god "it's you who says I am". Offside, another tenet from the bible which is often misinterpreted is "an eye for an eye". It's not about justification for getting your pound flesh, satisfaction or compensation. It's about no retribution, consequence or payment should be greater than the harm which was inflicted upon you. Interesting huh? It's a cautionary ethic against vendettas and revenge. Criminals have rights .. we struggle with that still today, That Jesus... feed the poor, house the homeless, heal the sick, turn the other cheek. I just don't get how all the rightwingnut politicos identify with him. Everything that Jesus would want for people and would do for them, they would vote against.. big time and yet they call themselves the religious right. Well it sure ain't the religion jesus espoused doncha know.... But then, maybe that's why the above interpretation of "render unto Caesar" isn't that popular. Humans eh?
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