On 1 Mar, 13:02, Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > I do see what you are going on about Pat. > > I don't think it is as easy to sort as that though. Primarily what > I'm talking about is the effect that culture has on all of us. > Easpecily in those cultrual practices that have to do with insult. > Over here in the west we largly ignore it if we are in a room and > somebodies bear feet are pointing towards us. In the middle east this > is a big no no and apt to get you into all sorts of problems. >
'Tis a Middle Eastern thing and has no scriptural basis. > It occours then that any sciptural dogma that makes claim to being a > way for the world, not the local tribe, must transcende such law > giving. Why perhaps not take on those aspect of faith that may seem > to go against your own culture then? > So, people should be reminded that, since God made our feet as well as the rest of us, we shouldn't be offended by them. I'm not sure what parts of my faith go against 'my' culture, so I have no answer for that. I don't think there is a conflict. Yet, I'll keep my eyes open for them. > Because it is virtualy impossible to do so. Try teaching any Punjabi > that bare feet pointing is not rude, they just won't have it. > Yup. But then ask them to back it up scripturally. Then you'll find the shoe's on the other foot. ;-) > Or The Easten attitude vs The Western when it comes to matters of a > sexual nature. Marriage, dating, etc.. > Ahhh, general morality. There are many ways. In order to really discuss, though, we need a specific example...well, I do. > We humans cannot easily transceden our cultural bounds, God must know > this and so I would expect the truely global religion to make no > mention of such culturaly biased practices, at the very least. > Yet any 'revelation' is bound to be revealed to a person who has, through no fault of their own, been raised in a particular culture. And, that first audience is also, quite likely, to be of the same culture. So, this is why revealed scriptures address cultural issues. If you want to know what the Hebrews were doing before the Ten Commandments...read the Ten Commandments. If you want to know what the Pagan Arabs were doing before the Qur'an...read the Qur'an. God attempts to redress some of these cultural issues in both Torah and Qur'an, but a lot has happened over the past 1400 years. Both of those 'scriptures' have messages that reach well outside the bounds of the cultures from which they sprang, but, in order to find them, you have to read them. But you run across situations like non-Muslim people demanding the 'right' to drink alcohol while the Qur'an guides against it. Of course, telling someone that drink is bad is not the same as knowing it for yourself. But you run across ethical issues when a teacher wants to get an entire class of 8-year-olds so drunk that they're all sick and realise just how lousy they can feel. Examples can get even worse. Imagine a Driving Instructor who wanted to demonstrate the disadvantages of drunk-driving by taking his/her pupil out, getting them blind drunk, and then putting them behind the wheel of a Ferrari on the M25? You can show people just how problematic drinking can be, but there are ethical issues in doing so. So, God, with His wisdom, simply guides against it and expects you to believe that He knows best. Who would know better? > On 1 Mar, 12:52, Pat <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On 23 Feb, 11:19, Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > So you Atheists can of course get involded in this one, I really don't > > > know why you should or what the interest for you would be, but do feel > > > free. > > > > I was thinking the other day about religion and culture. I'm somewhat > > > worried about how to seperate the message of God from that of man. > > > > So it suddenly struck me that any message that truely comes from God > > > must trancend culture. > > > > Thoughts? > > > Well, some scriptures transcend cultures and others don't. I > > think that murder is viewed by most cultures (I don't know of any that > > encourage it) as something to avoid, so the instruction/commandment to > > avoid it crosses all cultures. Any culture that encouraged murder > > would surely fall victim to its own policy and not last very long. As > > far as covering one's head, well, that seems to be a cultural thing. > > It really comes down to the specific 'message' as to whether or not it > > transcends human cultures across space and/or time. > > There's no reason, though, to think that God couldn't or wouldn't > > reveal something to a particular people that didn't apply to other > > cultures as a means of defining a culture BY their religion. Thus the > > laws of kashrut for Jews and why Muslims eat food that is halal. This > > is how God creates culture THROUGH scripture and through religion. > > Simply because a 'prescribed practice' as outlined in a given > > scripture isn't performed by all people, is no reason to think that > > the practice COULDN'T be performed by all people. When religions grow > > in numbers, these cutural practices grow with them. You didn't find > > Christmas trees in America before Europeans had come there. But, I > > imagine that there are a few Native American homes that erect them > > now. Yet, the 'tree' itself is a 'Germanic' practice and has nothing > > to do with Christianity itself. So, cultural practices can 'become' > > religious as well, and we need to watch out for those and not > > erroneously ascribe them to scripture. Santa Claus having a red coat > > wa sa concept brought to you via 'Coca Cola', yet it's almost a > > universal view. And, of course, Santa Claus has no basis in > > scripture. I could go on, but I hope you see what I'm getting at.- Hide > > quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
