Sippo in three recent posts:
(a) connects Lutheranism and National Socialism (Do you really want a link?);
(b) thinks his question "Was the Good Samaritan saved?" has an answer other than, "The Good Samaritan was not a real person." (link for those who doubt that Sippo would actually call that answer "a dishonest excuse."); and
(c) denies that the first and great commandment (upon which hangs all the law and prophets) is meant literally (link in which Sippo attaches the adverb "crassly" to the adjective "literal": particularly ironic when you consider his view of the Eucharist), in order to avoid admitting the obvious, namely that we all always fall short of perfect obedience to the great commandment.
-Turretinfan
Thursday, July 12, 2007
6 comments:
Comment Guidelines:
1. Thanks for posting a comment. Without you, this blog would not be interactive.
2. Please be polite. That doesn't mean you have to use kid gloves, but please try not to flame others, even if they are heretics, infidels, or worse.
3. If you insult me, I'm more likely to delete your comment than if you butter me up. After all, I'm human. I prefer praise to insults. If you prefer insults, there's something wrong with you.
4. Please be concise. The comment box is not your blog. Your blog is your blog. If you have a really long comment, post it on your blog and post a short summary of it here.
5. Please don't just spam. It's one thing to be concise, it's another thing to simply use the comment box to advertise.
6. Please note, by commenting here, you are relinquishing your (C) in your comments to me.
7. Remember that you will give an account on judgment day for your words, including those typed in comment boxes. Try to write so you will not be ashamed if it is read back before the entire world.
8. Stay on topic. If your comment has nothing to do with the post, email it to me (my email can be obtained through my blogger profile), or simply don't post it.
9. Don't post as "Anonymous." If you are going to post anonymously, at least use some kind of recognizable "handle," so we can tell you apart from all the other anonymous folks. (This is moot at the moment, since recent abuse has forced me to turn off "anonymous" commenting.)
10. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; and abstain from doing to others what you would not wish upon yourself.
Are you saying that the good Samaritan wasn't a real person and that you personally use this excuse but don't think it's a dishonest excuse? It kinda looks like that's what you're saying, but it's hard to tell.
ReplyDeleteThe good Samaritan was a fictional character. Labelling that as an "excuse" seems strange, but labelling it as a "dishonest excuse" is beyond strange.
ReplyDelete-Turretinfan
I logged in and posted a comment on Sippos blog. Basically, I agree that the good Samaritan was a real person, but I don't agree with the conclusions he draws from that. I think that it is an excuse to say "he's not a real person" and it shows a lack of backbone to say what I said in my comment on his blog (which unfortunately hasn't made it up yet).
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you would think that the good Samaritan was a real person.
-Turretinfan
The reason I think he was a real person is that Jesus says "A certain man..." He doesn't say "Now let's suppose a certain man..." And since he is God (1) he cannot lie (2) he certainly would have intimate knowledge of this certain man if he indeed existed. Therefore, I believe he did exist as a real man. But to use the example of the good Samaritan to make a point about salvation clearly misses the point. Jesus did not point him out as an example of how to get saved but as an example of how to love one's neighbor. Now, I suppose certain extreme varieties of Calvinism that state man is so depraved he can do nothing good at all until reborn would have a problem with such a man really existing, as Sippo points out, and would like to make him a fiction, because his existence...nay, whether he is a real man or purely a hypothetical, he still disproves their extreme view of depravity! But for everyone else, who acknowledges the obvious Biblical truth that an unsaved man can do good things and those good things will not save him, there is no reason to fear the good Samaritans' having been a real man. The reality of the man does not prove universalism as Sippo wants it to, as if God will save those who do not believe in Jesus, which Sippo implies. The Samaritan's existence only proves that there was a Samaritan who was a good neighbor (whether he was saved or not) and Jesus told us to be like him in his neighborliness (not his theology or doctrine).
ReplyDeleteDear Josh,
ReplyDeleteBut Jesus never phrases parables with "let's suppose."
On the other hand, in parables, "a certain" is frequently used to introduce a person in a parable.
See: Matthew 18:23, 21:33, 22:2;
Luke 12:16, 13:6, 14:16, 15:11, 16:1, 16:19-20, 19:12, 20:9.
Of course God does not lie, but the form of the narrative suggests a parable, not an historical account. Furthermore, the point of the narrative is clearly to convey a spiritual truth.
Also, naturally, God knows everything and would also know all the details of any actual event.
In any event, yes, trying to make the story be about salvation is quite desparate on Sippo's part.
Even if the people were real people, and the account a real account, no one denies that unsaved people can do outwardly moral deeds - even us Calvinists.
-Turretinfan