Posted by Brainbeard on June 25, 2010, at 7:54:28
In reply to Lou's response-ihnsypttumohc » Brainbeard, posted by Lou Pilder on June 24, 2010, at 19:25:55
> Bb,
> You wrote,[...some disconcerting...intoxicating substance to treat...]
> I am unsure as to what you are wanting to mean here. If you could post answers to the folowing, then I could have the opportunity to respond accordingly.
> A. What factors, if any, did you use to determine that the verses that you cited could be disconcerting to me?
> B. Are you aware of the original language meanings used in the verses that they were translated from?
> C. redacted by respondent
> LouA. These verses do not support a narrow interpretation of the biblical rejection of the use of psychotropics. Such an interpretation is modernistic and in accordance with Western Enlightenment logical thinking, but not with the Old Eastern way of thinking, which has no problem with approaching the truth by conflicting statements that can not logically be reconciled. The verses cited clearly show that there is a place and a legitimate use for intoxicating or psychotropic substances, either as a treatment for mental illness or as a way of delighting oneself before the face of the Lord. Especially the Provers verses are important, since they represent the Jewish Wisdom tradition, which is very pragmatic and down-to-earth in nature. Everyday life is too cross-grained to be caught in narrow dogmatic assumptions, and the Bible, since it is a Living Book, is therefore naturally full of contradictions. Trying to destillate modernistic logical truths from such a Living Source is a dangerous undertaking and often results in a twisting of the dynamic truth, which has different consequences in differing dimensions of reality.
B. I surely am. I know my Hebrew and my Greek. Proverbs 31:6-7: the Hebrew 'shekar' is used here, which means, according to Gesenius' lexicon, 'strong drink, intoxicating liquor'. Fairly obvious. The same word is used in Deuteronomy. Whatever would be argued about the fermentated or non-fermentated nature of 'yayin', for 'shekar' it cannot be reasonably argued that it would be non-alcoholic.
C. ?
D. You could try and accept the way God has given his Word to us: as mostly a pre-modern, Old Eastern collection of books, with a totally different approach to truth than our modern Western approach. You seem to see it as a holy mission to judge people according to your interpretations of isolated biblical verses. Life, and also the christian life, not to mention eternal life, is much more complex than you make it out to be.
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poster:Brainbeard
thread:940243
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20100403/msgs/952122.html