Matthew 19:12 says: " For their are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and their are some eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom heaven's sake. He that can make room for it, let him receive it." Whilst these words of Jesus have been taken figuratively by most Christians, many, particularly in the past, have taken them all too literally and castrated themselves, thinking they were following Jesus' advice. Surely an all-knowing God would have foreseen this tragedy and not allowed the above wording of Jesus' advice to appear in the Bible.
How responsible is Jesus' advice at Matthew 19:12?
by scout575 6 Replies latest jw friends
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DannyBloem
By following Jesus advice literary they are doing the society a big favour.
Darwin called it survival of the fittest.
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Shazard
One verse before Christ says:
Matt 19:11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
See... first comes God's own act - giving some understanding not otherwise. People often think that if they do soemthing, then God is bound to put them directly in Heaven! -
peacebaby
Or what about this: "If then, your hand or your foot is making you stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is finer for you to enter into life maimed than to be thrown with two hands or two feet into the everlasting fire. Also, if your eye is making you stumble, tear it out and throw it away from you; it is finer for you to enter one-eyed into life than to be thrown with two eyes into the fiery Gehenna." Mat. 18:7-9
Some people DO understand that Jesus' teachings were highly symbolic - otherwise we'd be seeing lots more one-eyed, gonad-less, paraplegics.
Danny - A blessing in disguise, huh? One less idiot in our gene pool - LOL!
I agree, Shazard - He reinterated time and again that his message would be understood by "those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear..." The ones who didn't understand he told to "...go and find the meaning of this..." His was a spiritual message that cannot be put into any other context - as you see, put in a literal context it really doesn't make sense. Or is even off-putting, like the ones who quit following him over the 'eat my flesh, drink my blood' thing - that, of course, was symbolic, but they just didn't 'get it'.
So, scout - it's not literal advice, it's a lesson in symbolism - fleshly 'man' vs.spiritual 'man' - that's what it's all about... Yes, Jesus was the utmost example of responsibility, but he can't be responsible for those who don't dig deeper to 'get the meaning'. Words are only lines and dots on paper - the spirit of the Word holds all truth - the deeper, true spiritual meanings. Grab your shovel and dig deeper, friend!
~PEACE~
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tetrapod.sapien
Darwin called it survival of the fittest.
he he, ya, what danny said...
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stevenyc
Yep, reading this I imediatly thougth of the http://www.darwinawards.com/.
Here's their moto:
We salute the improvement of the human genome
by honoring those who remove themselves from it.
Of necessity, this honor is generally bestowed posthumouslysteve
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scout575
Peacebaby: Your advice to me to: "dig deeper, friend." seems to entirely miss the point of my question. I agree that Jesus' words are to be taken metaphorically. My point was that many Christians in the past ( including some of the Church fathers ) thought Jesus' words were to taken literally and so castrated themselves, genuinely believing that they were following Jesus' advice.
You joke about those who took this step, saying: "One less idiot in our gene pool - LOL!" I can't say that I'm an expert on the Chuch fathers, but were they really idiots? I suspect somehow that many Christians would consider that Jesus would take a slightly more generous view of the sincere ( but albeit misguided ) Christians who did castrate themselves for his sake.
If Jesus had spoken in more straightforward terms, then many of his ancient followers wouldn't have mutilated themselves, thinking they were doing their master's will. If Jesus had said something along the lines of: "Why not consider staying single for the sake of the good news" then none of his followers would have ever castrated themselves. What a shame that 'Almighty God' never foresaw that so many of his worshippers would take Jesus' words literally.