Regarding Fundamentalist Christianity & some passages from Matthew...?

Question

Last question for today, I promise!

OK -- so I am intrigued by Fundamentalist Christianity, but I am having a lot of trouble understanding how it works. My question is basically, if Fundamentalists believe the Bible is word for word and literal, what do they believe about this passage?

5: 27 -- Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
5: 28 -- But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
5: 29 -- And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
5: 30 -- And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Not trying to pick and choose, simply preparing myself for reading the entire Bible, so I know how to look at things in another light.

I guess my next question would be... If this section of the Bible can't be taken literally, then why do Fundamentalists say they believe the Bible is literal?

Please help me to understand.

Answer 1

This passage of the Bible, like many, is confusing because it deals with what happens between being tempted to act and acting.

Being tempted by something isn't a sin. If you see your neighbor's wife and have the instantaneous thought, "Wow, she's hot," you haven't done anything wrong--any more than Christ would have sinned during his forty-day fast by acknowledging he had a hunger pain.

The problem arises when you continue to look at your neighbor's wife and the thought process moves forward to, "I wonder how she is in bed. I wonder if she thinks I'm hot. I wonder what time her husband will be home..." You get the idea. It's a matter of dwelling on the temptation, which tends to lead you toward the act itself.

Basically the thrust of the passage is if you think your neighbor's wife is hot STOP LOOKING AT HER.

When fundamentalists (and you might easily consider me one) say they take the Bible literally--be careful not to take US too literally. We know there are metaphors in there. We just don't think the whole book is analogy.

Answer 2

The thing to remember about most fundamentalist denominations is that their concept of Biblical inerrancy is very choosy.

Creation took place in six days and that means there's no such a thing as evolution, BUT

whatever Jesus says is to be taken, not literally, but only symbolically.

Catholics tend to do just the opposite. We take Jesus' words VERY seriously, but the Old Testament is never considered to be a history or an astrophysics textbook.

Answer 3

I think that you have a misconception of what comprised Fundamental Christianity.

The following are the fundamentals of Fundamental Christianity:

Inerrancy of the Scriptures
The virgin birth and the deity of Jesus
The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God's grace and human faith
The bodily resurrection of Jesus
The authenticity of Christ's miracles (or, alternatively, his pre-millennial second coming)

Most people misinterpret that first point ("Inerrancy of the Scriptures ") to mean literal. Fundamentalism was a reaction to higher criticism which basically says that anything un-natural e.g. miracles, virgin birth, resurrection, etc. could not have, and therefore did not, happen.

With the passage under consideration, Fundamental Christians believe that these are the English equivalent of the original Greek or Hebrew or whatever language Jesus used. That does not mean that everything is literal.

Answer 4

First you have to understand that the fundamentalist do not read the Bible themselves. They usually prefer to take the word of their pastor and follow his interpretations.

The Bible is full of contradictions but they will never know this because they simply don't read and analyze it. Their attitude is something on the order of "If my pastor said it's true, then it must be so".

Pastors know that in order to rally their flock, they must cater to a common hate among them. Most people hate homosexuals so the pastor preaches against them and juges them.

Answer 5

Any man that has looked at another woman and thought sexual thoughts is guilty of adultery, plain and simple.
However I think the next verses are allegorical in nature.
It would be better that he plucked out his eyes than to burn in hell.
This strictly gives us an extreme example of how deadly sin is and an example of how terrable hell must be.

Answer 6

I use to read these passages and wonder the same as you.But as a growing young christian,I
learned that the bible is God's law.That no one
can keep these laws.That Jesus Christ is the only one to fulfill these laws of God.Thus making salvation free to the believer through Jesus Christ his Son.God's law was given to
show everyone is guilty of sin.But the good news is that Jesus Christ went to the cross in order to redeem us from this sin guilty nature and to give us a new nature by receiving his
Spirit,the Holy Ghost,his Son.
In the book of Romans we are told that the ten
commandment law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

I consider myself a fundamentalist Christian, but with this passage I believe Jesus was just stressing the important of purity of heart and mind. I don't think any of his actual believers started cutting off their limbs after Sermon on the Mount.

Answer 8

The disconnect is a similar because the reason. Blaming the necessary doctrine itself ought to require an total reassessment of one's total international-view considering that international view is in keeping with those doctrines. isn't it easier and doesn't it require a lot less mirrored image, diagnosis and judgment to easily blame the undesirable apples and not in any respect the total tree?

Answer 9

Jesus was trying to explain to people that sin propagates within the heart.


"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: " Mat 15:19

To "cut off" yourself is to deny yourself. He did not mean to literally cut off your hand.

However I suppose the argument can be made that it is better to go through life literally maimed, then to end up in hell.

"And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. Mar 7:19-23

Answer 10

Christ was posing a rhetorical insult to those hypocrites who might claim "I didn't sin, my eyes just wandered of their own accord." In other words, he was doing a "put up or shut up". Either they start admitting that they DO choose to sin or they put out their own eyes the next time they blame their eyes for the sin. It extends to all other such excuse-making.