To draw something blasphemous and mocking in front of you sounds like a personal affront to you. I am a Catholic Christian and would not think of doing something similar to my Jewish, Protestant, etc. friends. Is this person egging you on, trying to get a rise out of you? I suppose I would say something, but there is no need to “cast pearls before swine.”
Yesterday, I witnessed what appeared to be a swift banning of a new user from
this site. Being a new user myself, I was impressed with the great speed
in which this was handled, so as to spare many other site users from
the disrespectful posts issued by that user. However, I did read that
user’s posts, and was close to posting my own reply, when I discovered
they were deleted from the site.
I very much appreciate the helpful responses of other members to this
users’ post - as good defenses of Christianity. In principle, any of
our friends could have attitudes toward Christianity like those of
our unnamed banned user.
I do not know the identity of the banned user, so my response now is
for people, Christian or otherwise, who have trouble reconciling
specific verses of the Bible (or, in this user’s case,
Protestant and Catholic versions) that appear to condone seemingly
unjust killing with the kind and merciful God promoted by Christians.
Scripture passages cited by the user were from the Old Testament
(1 and/or 2 Kings, Samuel, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and possibly
another book or two).
This user’s interpretation of Biblical verses were made out of context.
But isn’t that likely, for a person not educated in a Christian faith?
Non-Christians may hear or read about Christians saying that
the Bible is the Word of God. Catholics are taught that every book
of the Bible was written under divine inspiration. Catholics are
also taught that not every verse in the Bible should be taken literally.
Though I am not a scholar in this area, these are the reasons I
would give to reconcile difficult passages of the Bible with the
Bible’s intended purpose:
– The Bible reveals divine truths in the context of a religious
community’s struggle to have a relationship with God as his chosen people
– The many people who authored various biblical texts were divinely
inspired to do so. A divine inspiration to write God’s Word, as I understand it,
does not limit the author to the role of a scribe or, in more modern
terms, a stenographer of God.
– In the Bible, divine truths are revealed in events of
human experience encountering the God of Christians in the course of real history.
Separating details of these experiences from the truths themselves would
rob the Bible of value as a source of credible witness accounts of God
revealing himself.
– Because the Bible is written by humans not always acting as stenographers
of God, we can expect some inconsistencies that in of themselves
do not detract from the divine truths revealed.
– To be able to interpret the Bible in ways that do not contradict divine
truths, and at the same time foster living a life in the light of
these divine truths, a person must rely on appropriate teaching authority
to explain the divine truths cast in Biblical contexts.
– For me, the most reliable teaching authority on the Bible is in
the Catholic Church’s leadership, grounded in a valid line of
apostolic succession from Jesus Christ himself.
Whether I would convey all these points at once to the friend or
acquaintance would depend on the situation, and knowledge of the
person’s openness to dialogue. This is where, I believe, the rule
to avoid “casting pearls before swine”, which is scripturally based,
needs to be followed.
