(July 12, 2015 at 3:45 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: In addition to what Randy wrote, a single passage can have several layers of meaning, beyond the surface so to speak.
It seems that atheists and fundamentalists both insist on seeing only the most superficial approach to Holy Scripture.
Or rather like myself we critique the fact the "right interpretation" happens to be the one most convenient for you in the circumstances.
A prime example of this is Ursury, forbidden as sin for several centuries....Until the Turks were positioning themselves as a potential threat to the Papal States, the Pope had screwed all his Jewish money lenders so much nobody would lend him the cash so he "understood" that Christians moneylending with interest wasn't actually bad anymore.
Give to caesars what is caesars is another good one, while the Churches were stronger Caesar got nothing but now that the state is independent they're entitled to their fair share. What a happy coincidence the Papacy realized this truth in the Lateran Treaty just before they were about to become bankrupt and that good kind old Mussolini was willing to give his Holiness $92 million dollars for him giving up claims to the ruler ship of Italy.
The Catholics aren't the only ones who do this, they're just probably the most well known in the west. There's plenty of hypocrisy in Orthodoxy too with how they alternated between condemning and applauding the communist regime and collaborating with the brutality of the Russian autocracy which they've funnily enough started doing again with Putin.
